Iran attacks US base in Qatar as tensions rise in Middle East

Al Udeid Air Base (Alamy/PA)

Iran has launched missile attacks on a US military base in Qatar, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites and escalating tensions in the volatile region.

After the attack, the Gulf nation of Bahrain – which is home to the US 5th Fleet headquarters – temporarily suspended flights in its air space, which is similar to what Qatar did shortly before it was hit.

Qatar condemned the attack on Al Udeid Air Base, but said it intercepted the missiles and no casualties were reported. It said its air space is now safe.

The US confirmed the air base was targeted by a missile attack from Iran but added that casualties were reported.

Satellite image showing Al Udeid Air Base (Planet Labs PBC/AP)

Tehran said the attack in Qatar matched the number of bombs dropped by the US on Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend, signalling its likely desire to de-escalate.

Iran also said it targeted the base because it was outside populated areas.

Tehran announced the attack on state television as martial music played. A caption on screen called it “a mighty and successful response” to “America’s aggression”.

Meanwhile, Iraqis said they had been informed by US officials that missiles were launched towards the the Ain al-Assad base housing US troops in western Iraq, but the missiles never arrived, an Iraqi security source said.

A US military official said there was no confirmed attack on the base in Iraq.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said the attack by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards was “a flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty, its air space and international law”.

Al Udeid is also home to the Combined Air Operations Centre, which provides command and control of air power across the region as well as the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, the largest such unit in the world.

The retaliation came a day after the US launched a surprise attack on three of Iran’s nuclear sites.

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.”

Masoud Pezeshkian (Iranian Presidency Office/AP)

Earlier in the day, Israel expanded its war against Iran to include targets associated with the country’s struggling theocracy, striking the gate of a Tehran prison notorious for holding political activists and hitting the headquarters of the military force that suppressed recent protests.

As plumes of thick smoke rose over Tehran, Israel was attacked with another barrage of Iranian missiles and drones. The persistent fire has become a reality for civilians in both countries since Israel started the war to target Tehran’s nuclear programme.

On the 11th day of the conflict, Israel said it attacked “regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran”, but Israeli officials insisted they did not seek the overthrow of Iran’s government, their arch enemy since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Israeli military warned Iranians that it would continue to attack military sites around Tehran over “the coming days” as its focus shifts to symbolic targets as well. The military issued the warning on the social platform X, though Iranians are struggling to access the outside world as an internet shutdown has crippled the country.

The latest strikes unfolded hours after Donald Trump wrote on social media: “If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said the US president was “simply raising a question”. However, suggestions of overthrowing the Iranian government drew new anger from Tehran, which insists it will not negotiate at this time and is threatening to retaliate directly against American troops or interests in a Middle East already inflamed by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

In the Tehran strikes, Israel blew open a gate at Evin prison. Iranian state television shared surveillance footage of the strike at the facility known for holding dual nationals and westerners often used by Iran as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West.

Evin also has specialised units for political prisoners run by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The facility is the target of US and EU sanctions.

Evin jail in the suburbs of Tehran (Alamy/PA)

Iranian state television aired footage it described as being shot inside Evin, with prisoners under control inside the facility. However, the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre for Human Rights in Iran expressed worry about the condition of prisoners there.

“Many families of current detainees have expressed deep concern about the safety and condition of their loved ones held inside the prison,” it said.

Earlier on Monday, Iranian General Abdolrahim Mousavi warned Washington that its strikes had given Iranian forces a “free hand “ to “act against US interests and its army”.

Tens of thousands of US troops are based in the Middle East, many in locations within range of short-range Iranian missiles.

The Israeli military also confirmed it had struck roads around Iran’s Fordo enrichment facility to obstruct access to the site. The underground site was one of those hit in Sunday’s attack by the US on three nuclear facilities.

“The Iranian dictator will be punished with full force for attacking the Israeli home front,” Israel’s Defence Ministry said.

According to an Israeli source, Israel is targeting these sites to put pressure on the Iranian administration but is not actively seeking to topple it.

In Vienna, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said he expected heavy damage at the Fordo facility after Sunday’s US air strike.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Michael Gruber/AP)

Iran said the US had crossed “a very big red line” by striking the three sites with missiles and 30,000lb bunker-buster bombs.

Several Iranian officials, including Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, said Tehran removed nuclear material from targeted sites ahead of time.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the agency’s board of governors on Monday that Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told him on June 13 that Iran would “adopt special measures to protect nuclear equipment and materials”.

“I indicated that any transfer of nuclear material from a safeguarded facility to another location in Iran must be declared,” Mr Grossi said, without saying whether Iran had responded.

Iran described its Monday attack on Israel as a new wave of its Operation True Promise 3, saying it was targeting the cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv, according to Iranian state television.

Explosions were also heard in Jerusalem, possibly from air defence systems, and Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency rescue service said there had been no reports of injuries.

In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists.