Iran targets US bases in Qatar & Iraq: Israeli defense official

Doha: Iran retaliated on Monday for US strikes on Sunday targeting three of its nuclear sites, firing at least 10 missiles at American bases in Qatar and Iraq. Iran has launched at least 10 missiles toward US bases in Qatar, and one toward Iraq, an Israeli defense official confirmed to Al-Monitor.

Speaking after the missiles were launched this evening, Iran’s top security council said that Iranian armed forces struck the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar with the same number of missiles America used to bomb its nuclear facilities.

Earlier, people in Doha, Qatar’s capital, stopped and looked up as missiles flew and interceptors fired and struck at least one missile in the night sky.

Iran also targeted the Ain al-Assad base housing U.S. troops in western Iraq, an Iraqi security official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Qatar hosts the largest US military presence in the Middle East, with more than 8,000 troops stationed at Al Udeid Air Base outside the capital Doha. 

Officials said earlier that the Al-Udeid base, located just outside of Doha, was facing a “credible threat”. Trump administration officials are convening in Washington DC.

The base is home to US Centcom’s HQ and British military personnel also serve there on rotation.

Meanwhile, Iran announced on state television that it attacked American forces stationed at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base. A caption on screen called it “a mighty and successful response” to “America’s aggression” as martial music played.

The attack came shortly after Qatar closed its airspace as a precaution amid threats from Iran.

Just before the explosions, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on the social platform X: “We neither initiated the war nor seeking it. But we will not leave invasion to the great Iran without answer.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have warned that American bases across the region were “major weak points and the Achilles’ heel of this warmongering regime” rather than sources of strength.

It threatened that any further attacks on Iran would accelerate “the collapse of America’s military pillars in the region.” (Agencies)

 Also Read: Iran slams strike on its nuclear sites, calls for UN action

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