Featured Image Credit: Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran via Getty Images/Carlos Barria - Pool/Getty Images
Topics: US News, World News, Iran, Donald Trump, Politics
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: US News, World News, Iran, Donald Trump, Politics
Iran has launched six missiles on United States air bases in Qatar and Iraq following an American strike on three sites within their country, according to Saberin News, a media outlet close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Tensions between the United States and Iran have now surged to the highest point in decades after President Donald Trump ordered direct strikes that he said 'obliterated' the three key nuclear facilities - Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo - across the Middle Eastern country on Saturday (21 June).
In an announcement made on state television as martial music played earlier today (23 June), Iran said that it attacked American forces stationed at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base.
A caption on the screen called it 'a mighty and successful response by the armed forces of Iran to America’s aggression'.
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According to Qatar Foreign Minister spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, their air defenses had 'successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles', adding that the Iranian strikes did not inflict any casualties (via Associated Press).
Qatar Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on Al Udeid, calling it 'a flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty, its airspace, and international law'.
The ministry added that the continuation off such military activities endangers security and stability of the region.
"We call for an immediate end to all military activities," Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
The attack came shortly after Qatar closed its airspace as a precaution amid threats from Iran.
Just before the explosions, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on the social media platform X: "We neither initiated the war nor seeking it. But we will not leave invasion to the great Iran without answer."
Following the latest news of Iran striking the US air bases, a senior official at the Trump administration said in a statement: "The White House and the department of defence are aware of, and closely monitoring, potential threats to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar."
Al Udeid Air Base is the largest US base in the Middle East that houses some 10,000 troops. Trump toured the base last month, the first commander in chief to visit since 2003.
The latest strikes unfolded only hours after Trump openly raised the possibility himself after just a day earlier inserting America into the war with its unprecedented stealth-bomber strike on the three Iranian nuclear sites.
"If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???" he wrote on Truth Social.
Iran, which has a population of over 90 million, remains the biggest adversary of the US in the region since the 1979 Islamic revolution, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini toppled pro-Western leader Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Since then, the two nations have fought over a number of different issues including Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Iran’s backing of proxies in the region, and US political interference in the region.
Last week, Israel, which has long considered Iran a threat, launched unprecedented strikes across Iran after accusing the nation of developing nuclear weapons.
Such Israeli claims have not been backed by any credible proof, but Trump nonetheless dragged the US into the war following the Israeli strikes.