 "Explosions could be heard over Doha on Monday, shortly after Qatar, which hosts the biggest US base in the Middle East, suspended air traffic. Screengrab")
Iran on Monday said that it has launched an operation targeting a US military base in Qatar, with US officials confirming they are tracking multiple missiles aimed at the base.
According to a CNN report, citing an official briefed on the matter, missiles have been launched by Iran on the US-run Al Udeid Air Base. However, no casualties have been reported.
Explosions could be heard over Doha on Monday, shortly after Qatar, which hosts the biggest US base in West Asia, suspended air traffic, reported AFP.
Several rounds of blasts were heard in central Doha and across the Qatari capital, with projectiles stopped by interceptors illuminating the night sky.
Iran had issued threats to retaliate against the United States after US bombers dropped 30,000-pound bunker-busters on Iranian underground nuclear sites at the weekend, joining Israel’s air war against Tehran, and President Donald Trump mooted the possibility of the Iranian government being toppled.
Qatar’s defence minister, quoted by Al Jazeera TV, said its air defences had intercepted missiles directed at the Al Udeid airbase, situated across the Gulf from Iran.
Qatari authorities said there were no casualties in the attack, which it condemned and said it reserved the right to respond.
“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,” AFP quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari as saying in a statement.
Shortly after the attack, Iranian Armed Forces issued a statement saying the “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps” with the sacred code or Abu Abdullah Al-Hussein (PBUH) has targeted the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar with a devastating and powerful missile attack in Operation Basharat Fatah.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Following the blatant military aggression of the criminal regime of the United States of America against the peaceful nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the clear violation of international law, with the guidance of the Supreme National Security Council and the leadership of the Central Headquarters of the Last Prophet (PBUH), the “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps” with the sacred code or Abu Abdullah Al-Hussein (PBUH) has targeted the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar with a devastating and powerful missile attack in Operation Basharat Fatah. This base is the headquarters of the Air Force and the largest strategic asset of the US terrorist army in the West Asia region,” the statement read.
Al-Udeid Air Base is the headquarters of the Air Force and the largest strategic asset of the US terrorist army in the West Asia region.
The statement added that the armed forces’ decisive action sends a clear and unmistakable message to the White House and its allies.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, relying on God Almighty, relying on the faithful and famous people of Islamic Iran, will not leave any attack on its territorial integrity, sovereignty and national security unanswered under any circumstances,” the statement read.
“With the aggression of the American enemy, it became clear to everyone that the evil of the Zionists was an extension of the American design. Accordingly, we remind you that in this national defence, the US mobile military bases and targets in the region are not a point of strength, but a major weakness and a blind spot of this war-mongering regime,” it added.
Iran’s armed forces issued a stern warning to their enemies.
“On the eve of the month of Muharram, the month of mourning for the leader of the martyrs, Hazrat Abu Abdullah Al-Hussein (AS), we once again warn the enemies of Islamic Iran that the era of beating and facing is over and the will of the country’s powerful people’s armed forces is that any repetition of mischief will lead to the acceleration of the collapse of the US military pillars in the region, their ignominious escape from West Asia, and the realisation of the common aspiration of the Islamic Ummah and the freedom-loving nations of the world in eradicating the cancerous tumor of Zion,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine are currently in the White House Situation Room, according to a CNN report, citing a senior administration official.
White House and Pentagon officials have been tracking possible threats to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar throughout the day.
President Donald Trump, who visited Al Udeid on May 17, praised US troops stationed there, saying, “No visit in the Gulf would be complete without stopping to salute the people who keep America safe, strong and free.”
His visit marked the first by a sitting US president to the base since its establishment in 2003.
With inputs from agencies