Al Udeid Air Base<\/a> was the only US military base targeted by Iran, according to the Reuters news agency. The officials confirmed that there had been no impact on the base just outside Qatar\u2019s capital, Doha. A US defence official added that \u201cAl Udeid Air Base was attacked by short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles originating from Iran today\u201d.<\/p>\n\u201cAt this time, there are no reports of US casualties. We are monitoring this situation closely and will provide more information as it becomes available,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n
Following the attack, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a post X that \u201cwe have not violated anyone\u2019s rights, and we will not under any circumstances accept any violation against us, nor will we surrender to anyone\u2019s aggression; this is the logic of the Iranian nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later added that the country is ready to respond again if the US takes any further action, according to a statement posted on Telegram.<\/p>\n
United States President Donald Trump said Iran had \u201ca very weak response\u201d and thanked the country\u2019s leadership for providing \u201cearly notice\u201d of the retaliatory attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pleased to report that NO Americans were harmed, and hardly any damage was done,\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost importantly, they\u2019ve gotten it all out of their \u2018system,\u2019 and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE. I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Qatar condemns attacks<\/p>\n
Flares were visible over Qatar\u2019s capital, Doha, on Monday. It was initially not immediately known if this was the air defence system or missiles.<\/p>\n
Loud explosions were also heard, although so far no injuries have been reported. Qatar\u2019s Ministry of Defence says its air defence systems successfully intercepted missiles targeting Al Udeid Air Base.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the ministry said the incident resulted in no deaths or injuries, crediting \u201cthe vigilance of the armed forces and precautionary measures taken\u201d.<\/p>\n
Qatar has confirmed that a total of 19 missiles were fired from Iran. It added that only one of those hit Al Udeid Air Base but caused no casualties.<\/p>\n
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera\u2019s Tohid Asadi says it\u2019s still uncertain whether Iran\u2019s latest strikes mark the end of its response to US attacks on its nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether this will be the final attack, or if more are to come, is still unclear,\u201d he said.\u00a0From Tehran\u2019s perspective, there may be a sense that the situation is now balanced. But Iran also views this as part of a larger, ongoing confrontation, Asadi added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Iranians claim that not only the US, but also European countries, are supplying Israel with the infrastructure and weaponry\u201d used to strike Iranian targets. \u201cSo, from Iran\u2019s point of view, it is part of an ongoing battle in which it is being targeted on a daily basis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council said that the missile strike against the Al Udeid Air Base was far away from residential areas in Qatar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis action does not pose any threat to the friendly and brotherly country, Qatar, and its noble people, and the Islamic Republic of Iran remains committed to maintaining and continuing warm and historic relations with Qatar,\u201d the council said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Iran and Qatar enjoy fraternal relations, and the Qatari government has condemned both the Israeli and US attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n
Qatar, nevertheless, condemned the attack as a blatant violation of its sovereignty.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera\u2019s correspondent Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Doha following the Iranian attack, said, \u201cPeople here have never experienced this kind of environment, so it was certainly a very dramatic experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s important to understand that this was not intended to harm the civilian population, but it was a clear message to the US government and military that Iran has the capability to launch direct attacks on US military personnel in the Middle East,\u201d added Jabbari.<\/p>\n
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera\u2019s senior political analyst, said the war in Gaza is setting a lot of precedents in the region and wider international relations.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them are very reminiscent of the things that happened in the past,\u201d he said, adding that this was the first time Iran targeted a US base outside Iraq.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also new the way the US attacked Iran and the way Israel preventively attacked Iran in its war of choice,\u201d Bishara said.<\/p>\n
He added that rapid developments in the widening conflict show that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is both \u201cmanipulating the US\u201d and \u201ctaking the entire region to an unknown as an indicted criminal\u201d.<\/p>\n
US on Iran\u2019s retaliation<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera\u2019s correspondent, Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, said that Trump was in the Situation Room of the White House.<\/p>\n
Initially, his national security briefing had been scheduled for the Oval Office, but it was moved due to these developments involving attacks on US bases \u2013 specifically in Qatar.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also know that in advance of the attack on Al Udeid Air Base, which is the headquarters of the Central Command, the largest installation in the region, there was an evacuation of the major infrastructure in terms of the aircraft,\u201d said Halkett.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we know is that the Pentagon right now, even if it\u2019s on high alert, is not tracking any other potential attacks in any other bases \u2013 this was localised to Qatar,\u201d added Halkett.<\/p>\n
Reports from the White House indicated that the Iranian attack on the air base appears to have been calibrated to mirror the US strike in terms of the number of missiles used.<\/p>\n
The embassies of the US and United Kingdom in Qatar had earlier released statements recommending that citizens in Qatar shelter in place until further notice. Qatar said it shut down its airspace temporarily as part of the measures taken to ensure the safety of residents and visitors, though it has since reopened its airspace.<\/p>\n
The countries with the most US troops include Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. These installations serve as critical hubs for air and naval operations, regional logistics, intelligence-gathering and force projection.<\/p>\n
Other Gulf countries \u2014 including Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, and the UAE \u2014 initially closed their airspace. Since then, they have all reopened.<\/p>\n
Al Udeid is the largest US military base in the Middle East, established in 1996. Covering an area of 24 hectares (60 acres), the base accommodates almost 100 aircraft as well as drones. This base, which houses some 10,000 troops, serves as the forward headquarters for US Central Command (CENTCOM) and has been central to operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United States President Donald Trump has announced a \u201ccomplete and total\u201d ceasefire between Israel and Iran, set to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[1167,839,12,6860,49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-209090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-israel-iran-conflict","9":"tag-middle-east","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-qatar","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114735698585937355","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}