Iran launches missile strikes at US air base in Qatar

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Iran fired missiles at an American military base in Qatar as Tehran struck against the US in retaliation for Donald Trump’s bombing of the Islamic regime’s main nuclear sites at the weekend.

Residents heard explosions booming across Doha on Monday evening as air defences sought to intercept up to 10 missiles that were fired towards Al Udeid base.

The sprawling base just outside the Qatari capital is the US Central Command’s regional headquarters and typically hosts about 10,000 American troops. But most personnel were evacuated last week and aircraft and other equipment moved as regional tensions soared.

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said: “Qatari air defences thwarted the attack and successfully intercepted the Iranian missiles.” He said there were no casualties.

The US and Qatar were aware of the imminent threat of an attack hours before the missiles were launched, a person familiar with the matter told the FT.

Oil prices fell as traders calculated that the attack was largely symbolic, and could signal an effort by Iran to de-escalate the conflict, despite the risk that it could trigger a robust response.

Qatar had earlier closed its airspace in expectation of an Iranian attack. The US and UK embassies in Doha had also told their citizens in the small Gulf state to “shelter in place”.

The Iranian attack came just over a day after Trump ordered the US military to drop “bunker buster” bombs on Fordow and Natanz — Iran’s main nuclear sites — as Washington joined Israel’s 10-day war against the Islamic republic.

The attack on Al Udeid, which also serves as the Royal Air Force’s regional headquarters, also risks dragging the UK into the conflict. On Monday UK foreign secretary David Lammy said the UK was ready to defend its personnel and assets in the region and that “of its allies and partners”.

Shortly before the attack, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, chief of Iran’s armed forces, said Trump had “violated all international norms by breaching the airspace of our beloved country” and “the crime itself and the blatant disrespect cannot go unanswered”.

Iran launched a similar attack against the US in 2020 when it fired missiles at two US bases in Iraq after Trump ordered the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s most powerful commander. The assault was telegraphed and caused no damage, and both sides stepped back from the brink of a full-blown war.

But a regional official said the attack and threat to countries in the Gulf “will undoubtedly impact the relationship-building efforts that have been under way between” Iran and its Arab neighbours.

Qatar’s Ansari said the Gulf state “reserves the right to respond directly”, raising the possibility of an expanding regional confrontation, but also called for an “immediate cessation” of military actions.

International airlines including British Airways, Air France, Kuwait Airways and Etihad Airways had previously cancelled or rerouted some destinations in the Gulf.

BP, TotalEnergies and Eni have also begun to evacuate foreign staff from oilfields in southern Iraq amid fears that Iran could target energy infrastructure in the region.

Regional states have been on edge since Israel launched its war against Iran 10 days ago, fearing an attack on US bases or energy facilities. They also worry that Iran could seek to block the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which around a quarter of the world’s seaborne crude passes.

Gulf states, including Qatar, have previously told the Trump administration that they would not allow the US to use bases on their territory to launch attacks against Iran.

The US has about 40,000 troops in the Middle East at bases and military sites in Qatar, Bahrain, which hosts the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

The US also has 2,500 troops in Iraq and hundreds in Syria who could be vulnerable to attacks from Iranian-backed Shia militants as well as from Iran’s missiles.

Israel widened its strikes on Iran earlier on Monday, hitting sites in Tehran, including the notorious Evin prison, and the headquarters of the Basij, a force linked to the elite Revolutionary Guards.

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said the military would continue striking Iran as long as the Islamic republic kept firing at Israel.

But two people familiar with the Israeli government’s thinking said that given the damage it had already done to Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear capabilities, it was looking for ways to wind up the conflict.

“Israel can ‘close’ this operation in the coming days, and is willing to. It depends on the US, the international community, and most of all the Iranians,” one of the people said.

Additional reporting by David Sheppard