DOHA — Iran today launched what its armed forces called a “powerful and destructive missile strike on the United States’ Al-Udeid military base in Qatar.”
Explosions were heard in the skies over Doha, the capital of Qatar.
The claimed attack came two days after U.S. B-2 bombers and cruise missiles struck nuclear development facilities in Iran.
The price of crude oil fell in trading today after news of the attack broke.
Qatar closed its airspace shortly before the attack was reported.
Qatar’s Foreign Minstry spokesman, in a statement on X, said, “We express the State of Qatar’s strong condemnation of the attack on Al Udeid Air Base by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and consider it a flagrant violation of the State of Qatar’s sovereignty and airspace, as well as of international law and the United Nations Charter.”
“We affirm that the State of Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner proportional to the nature and scale of this blatant aggression and in accordance with international law,” the spokesman said.
Iran has warned that its retaliation to President Trump’s strikes on its nuclear facilities is not over after the largest US military base in the Middle East was targeted by at least 10 missiles.
An Iranian official said it will continue retaliatory strikes following a barrage of missile fire at the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar on Monday – where more than 10,000 American troops and 100 aircraft, strategic bombers and tankers are stationed.
Qatar said that all missiles fired by Iran were intercepted by its air defense systems, and there are no reports of injuries or deaths as a result of the strikes.
President Trump convened his national security team at the White House Monday as he weighs how to respond, after he previously evacuated at least 40 aircraft from the Qatar base in recent days and moved an unknown number of troops.
World leaders quickly condemned Iran’s strikes and expressed support to Qatar, which said that it has not ruled out retaliatory strikes of its own against Iran.
It comes as Iran warned the United States will ‘directly pay’ for strikes on its nuclear facilities ‘rather than standing behind Israel,’ with the Islamic Republic prepared for a war lasting up to two years, a senior Iranian official told reporters.
Tehran’s mission to the UN said the US and Israel, as well as the United Kingdom, France and the International Atomic Energy Agency director personally, will all ‘bear full responsibility for the death of innocent civilians in Iran.’
Trump used 30,000 pound bunker buster bombs to hit its nuclear facilities on Saturday night, then sparked Iranian fury when he raised the prospect of regime change the next day.
Iranian state media warned that up to 50,000 American soldiers would be returned to Washington in ‘coffins’. There are an estimated 40,000 American troops stationed in and around the Middle East.
Israel also launched an attack on ‘regime targets’ in Tehran on Monday, with ‘hundreds’ of members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said to have been killed in a huge wave of strikes.
The Qatari foreign minister condemned the Iranian attack, calling it a “flagrant violation of the State of Qatar’s sovereignty and airspace, as well as international law and the United National Charter.”
“We affirm that the State of Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner proportionate to the nature and scale of this blatant aggression and in accordance with international law,” the foreign minister said.
Sounds of several explosions were heard over Qatari capital Doha, a witness said on today, following Tehran’s threats to retaliate against the U.S.’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
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