Live Updates: Iran Fires Missiles at U.S. Base in Qatar
"Al Udeid Air Base, the largest American military installation in the Middle East, was the target of the strike. Qatar said its air defense systems intercepted the missiles. There were no reports of injuries.
Iran on Monday launched a missile attack on an American base in Qatar, the largest American military installation in the Middle East, in retaliation for U.S. strikes on three critical Iranian nuclear sites.
But there were signs that Iran might have been looking for an off-ramp to the conflict, even as it targeted the base despite warnings from the Trump administration not to retaliate for the American bombing over the weekend.
President Trump said on Monday on his social media platform that “in addition to no Americans being killed or wounded, very importantly, there have also been no Qataris killed or wounded,” in the Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Qatar. “There have been 14 missiles fired — 13 were knocked down, and 1 was ‘set free,’ because it was headed in a nonthreatening direction,” he wrote in another post.
The Israeli military said in a statement late on Monday that it had carried out a series of airstrikes on targets in western Iran, including underground military infrastructure used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for storing missiles and missile launchers. Earlier on Monday, the military said, Israeli warplanes also struck and destroyed a missile launcher “intended for use against” Israeli aircraft.
Iranian attack on a U.S. base in Qatar
Satellite imagery of Al Udeid Air Base taken Monday morning shows it was nearly empty of aircraft ahead of the Iranian missile attack. The images, captured by Planet Labs, showed dozens of aircraft at the base throughout early June, before Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran on June 13.
Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, told reporters on Capitol Hill that he did not support efforts to require Congress to vote on authorizing the use of military force in Iran. “The commander in chief has Article II responsibilities. They’re very serious and important, especially in times like this. I think he used that authority judiciously,” he said. He dismissed efforts to limit that authority as “all politics.”
U.S. forces operating anti-missile batteries shot down the Iranian missiles fired at al Udeid, two Pentagon offiicials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters. They did not say if Qatari forces assisted in the effort.
The White House has still not briefed the “Gang of Eight” congressional leaders and intelligence committee leaders on the Iran strikes, Mr. Jeffries said, adding that he has requested a briefing repeatedly since Saturday. “There’s zero evidence that I’ve seen that the nuclear program was completely and totally obliterated, as Donald Trump has claimed,” he said.
“The use of military force which is offensive in nature must be approved by the House and the Senate,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader, at a Capitol Hill news conference. “It’s not optional, Donald. It’s not,” he added. Mr. Jeffries has repeatedly asked what “the administration is hiding” about the strikes on Iran.
The American air base in Qatar targeted by Iranian missiles on Monday is the biggest U.S. base in the Middle East and serves as the regional headquarters for the U.S. Central Command. About 10,000 troops are stationed there.
The installation, Al Udeid Air Base, is heavily fortified by an array of air defenses. The U.S. military has been using Al Udeid since the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, when it positioned planes there to target the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Two years later, Al Udeid became the main U.S. air operations hub in the region.
U.S. commanders used the base to coordinate a wide variety of missions during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as strikes against the Islamic State in Syria. The Air Force has deployed a wide variety of aircraft there, from advanced fighters and long-range bombers to drones, transport planes and in-flight refueling tankers.
It also became the central evacuation point for tens of thousands of Afghans and Americans who fled Afghanistan in 2021 when the U.S. military withdrew.
The Combined Air Operations Center at the base helps project U.S. air power across a vast region encompassing 21 countries, from Northeast Africa to Central and South Asia, according to the Air Force.
Qatar, which saw the United States as its main protector in the Middle East, finished building the base in 1996, hoping to encourage the deployment of the U.S. military there. Over the years, Qatar has spent at least $8 billion to develop the base, which its military also uses alongside the British Royal Air Force, as part of its efforts to build up its partnership with the United States.
The modernization and expansion of the base has allowed a number of key U.S. military commands to operate out of it. Along with the U.S. Central Command, the base also hosts command facilities for American special forces.
The base’s location was carefully guarded until 2013, when Chuck Hagel, then the defense secretary, lifted the veil of secrecy.
President Trump visited Al Udeid last month while on a four-day tour of Gulf States. There, in a rally-like atmosphere, he spoke about Qatar’s purchases of American military supplies and told several of his favorite stories, including one about his trip to Iraq during his first term.
“I have nothing else to do,” Mr. Trump told U.S. troops from a stage at the base, “so let’s have a little fun.”
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