Iran’s military said on Monday it had carried out a “devastating and powerful” missile attack on the Al Udeid US airbase in Qatar, after explosions were heard across the Qatari capital following Tehran’s threat to retaliate for US airstrikes.
Iran’s top security body issued a statement saying it has used the same number of bombs that the US used when striking Iranian nuclear facilities, according to Reuters.
Iran will continue its retaliation in response to US attacks, a senior Iranian official told Reuters. He added that Iran possesses the necessary rationality to pursue diplomacy-but only after punishing the aggressor. “If the United States seeks negotiations, Israeli and U.S. attacks must stop,” he said.
No US personnel were killed or injured in Iran’s attack on Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military installation in the Middle East, two US officials told Reuters. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack was carried out using short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles.
Meanwhile, military sources said air defence systems were activated at the US Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq amid concerns over a potential attack.
The main remaining US base in northeast Syria is on full alert and mobilised for possible attacks by Iran or Iran-aligned groups, a Syrian security source told Reuters. Known as Qasrak, the base is one of two US military installations in Hasakah province, where American troops are stationed.
Iran coordinated its strikes on US bases in Qatar with Qatari officials in advance to minimise casualties, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing three Iranian officials.
Qatar condemned Iran’s attack on the largest US military base in the region, located in the Gulf state, calling it a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.
“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 Qatar’s sovereignty and airspace, as well as of international law,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said in a statement.
Qatar’s defence minister, quoted by Al Jazeera TV, said its air defences had intercepted missiles directed at Al Udeid, the largest US military installation in the Middle East, located across the Gulf from Iran. Qatari authorities confirmed there were no casualties in the attack, which they condemned.
Qatar said it reserves the right to respond directly and in accordance with international law after Iran targeted the US Al Udeid military base in Doha. The Iranian strike came in retaliation for a US attack on its nuclear facilities.
Saudi Arabia lambasted Iran for its “unjustifiable” attack on a US base in Qatar, offering to deploy “all its capabilities” to support Doha, with whom it has had fraught relations in the past.
Riyadh said it “condemns and denounces in the strongest terms the aggression launched by Iran against the sisterly State of Qatar… This is unacceptable and unjustifiable under any circumstances. The Kingdom affirms its solidarity and full support for… Qatar and offers all its capabilities to support the sisterly State of Qatar in any measures it takes,” Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Later, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke to Saudi and Qatari ambassadors over the phone and expressed his concern over the reports of missile attacks on the US base in Doha.
The PM said that all efforts must be made to de-escalate tensions and restore peace in the region. In this regard, he said Pakistan would continue to work closely with Saudi Arabia and Qatar to intensify peace efforts.
The Saudi envoy said Pakistan and the kingdom must continue to work together and coordinate closely to ensure an early peaceful settlement of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.