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Sean Seddon and Gabriela Pomroy
BBC News
Iran launched missiles on Monday in an American military base in Qatar, in what it said that reprisals of American strikes against its nuclear sites during the weekend.
Witnesses said they heard strong fringes in the sky above the capital, Doha, while the videos showed brilliant lightning in the sky while air defense systems were trying to intercept the missiles.
Donald Trump described the attack as “very weak” and “expected”, and suggested that peace in the region could continue.
On Tuesday, the American president announced that a cease-fire between Israel and Iran had entered into force.
Here’s what we know.
What is Iran targets and why?
Iranian missiles targeted the largest American military base in the Middle East, Al-Wudeid, in what, according to him, was an answer to American bombing three of his nuclear program facilities on Saturday evening.
Al -udeid is home to the siege of the American army for all air operations in the region. Some British soldiers are also used to rotate it.
The attack was confirmed for the first time by the Iranian state media, then by the soldiers.
An IRGC declaration, the most powerful branch of the Iranian army, said that “Iran will not leave any attack on its unanswered sovereignty”, and added: “The American bases in the region are not forces but vulnerabilities”.
The United States had previously warned Iran not to respond to its strikes on nuclear facilities and urged leaders in Tehran to accept a diplomatic end of hostilities in the region.
There were different reports on the number of missiles. Iran said that six, the United States said 14 and Qatar, Reuters said that 19-which he added, had been intercepted.
No one was reported or injured.
In the hours preceding the attack, the United States and the United Kingdom had advised their citizens of Qatar to “worry in place”. According to the State Department, around 8,000 American citizens live in Qatar, as well as several thousand British citizens.
What was said after the attack
He became clear shortly after Iran warned that he was preparing to launch missiles. Three Iranian officials cited by the New York Times said that Tehran told Doha his intentions to minimize the victims.
In his first comments following, President Donald Trump thanked Iran “for giving us notice, which has not allowed any life, and no one to be injured.”
He marked the “very weak” attack-no American was injured and very little damage was caused, he said. “They got everything out of their system,” he added and said there was a chance of “peace” now.
Nevertheless, a spokesman for the Qatar Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the attack was a “surprise” and a “blatant violation of its sovereignty”, and added that Qatar “was one of the first countries to warn against the dangers of Israeli climbing in the region”.
The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was waiting for Iran to have injured anyone in the attack, but that his country “would submit to the violation of anyone”.
“We have not violated anyone, and we will in no way accept being violated by anyone. We will not submit to the violation of a person; it is the logic of the Iranian nation,” he said on X (as translated by the BBC Persian).
On Trump’s cease-fire proposal on Trump’s ceasefire on Tuesday on Tuesday, Iran said that it would only make its attacks if Israel did the same.
The Iranian state media announced that the country had drawn “a last series of missiles” towards Israel before the start of the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has issued a warning to Iran: “Israel will forcefully respond to any violation of the ceasefire.”
What were the signs that the attack was imminent?
There were indications on Monday that the United States suspected that Iran was preparing to launch missiles in Qatar.
A few hours before the attack, Qatar said that it temporarily closed its airspace, shortly after the United States and the United Kingdom told citizens in Qatar to “take shelter”.
These warnings did not give a clear indication that an attack was imminent: the United States said they had issued the order “by abundance of prudence”, while the United Kingdom said it was following the example of the Americans.
However, about an hour before the attack, the BBC learned “a credible threat” against the base.
In addition, some American media have cited anonymous American officials saying that Iranian missile launchers had been positioned for a potential launch towards Qatar.
The flight tracking websites have shown that planes had already started to divert to other airports before the launch. According to Flightradar24, 100 flights were bound for Doha shortly before the detection of missile launches.
Hamad International Airport is one of the best 10 in the world for international traffic, with around 140,000 passengers passing per day.
Other countries in the region, including Bahrain and Kuwait, also closed their airspace for a brief period.
How did we get here?
The United States launched massive strikes against three nuclear installations in Iran on Saturday.
This came after days of uncertainty as to whether the United States would join the military action of Israel against Iran, which began on June 13.
Israel has launched daily missile strikes against nuclear and military installations inside Iran, which, according to its government, is necessary to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon.
Successive Israeli and American governments have sought to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Iran has always maintained its vast nuclear program for civil purposes.
The United States has said that its strikes have seriously damaged Iran’s nuclear program, although the complete extent of its impact remains clear.
The attacks between Iran and Israel also continued on Sunday and Monday before the entry into force of the ceasefire.
