In retaliation for the US attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend, Tehran has launched missile salvos at an American base in Qatar. Iran says it also launched a new 3,300-pound missile at Israel.
On Tuesday, Iran targeted the largest US air installation in the Middle East, the Al Udeid Air Base. According to multiple Iranian sources speaking with the New York Times, Tehran informed Doha of the attack before launching missiles in order to minimize damage and casualties.
The New York Times cites 3 unnamed Iranian officials who say Tehran warned Qatar about the strikes in advance.
Obviously that would be passed on to the US immediately, which, as NYT notes, is very similar to Iran’s 2020 retaliation for Soleimani’s assassination. pic.twitter.com/sq9RmNTPVP
— Will Porter (@TheWillPorter) June 23, 2025
A US official later said the strikes resulted in no casualties. “Al Udeid Air Base was attacked by short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles originating from Iran today. At this time, there are no reports of US casualties,” the source told Al-Monitor.
The objective of the operation appears to be symbolic, as Tehran elected to launch the same number of missiles the US used in its attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities Saturday night.
Initial reports said Tehran had also fired at least one missile at the Al-Asad base in Iraq. However, an American official later denied the report to Reuters. In 2020, Iran targeted the same air base after President Donald Trump assassinated Iranian commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.
That strike was also viewed as a symbolic act, as Iran gave the US enough warning to allow soldiers to get into bunkers. However, Iran expert Trita Parsi warned that a similar deescalation may not occur this time.
“Iran has begun bombing empty American bases in the region [. . .] There is a scenario, similar to the 2020 strikes against Iraqi bases, in which both sides call it quits after one round of fire,” he wrote on X. “But I find that scenario unstable because of the Israeli element. Israel will continue to strike Iran and vice versa, and as long as that is the case, the Israelis will continue to put relentless pressure on Trump to join the war in various ways.”
Iran has begun bombing empty American bases in the region. The US most likely expected attacks in Syria, Iraq, and perhaps Bahrain, but Tehran seems to have opted to go after bases in Qatar and possibly the UAE instead.
This will of course have significant implications for…
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) June 23, 2025
In a post on Truth Social following the Iranian response, Trump downplayed the incident and thanked Tehran of notifying the US about the attack to remove US forces from the air base. “Iran has officially responded to our Obliteration of their Nuclear Facilities with a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered. There have been 14 missiles fired — 13 were knocked down, and 1 was ‘set free,’ because it was headed in a nonthreatening direction.” The President continued, “I am pleased to report that NO Americans were harmed, and hardly any damage was done. Most importantly, they’ve gotten it all out of their “system,” and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE. I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured.”
Additionally, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted Israel with its most powerful missile on Monday, noting this was its first battlefield use. However, Iranian state TV claimed the weapon was used in a strike one day prior. Known by the names ‘Kheibar’ and ‘Khorramshahr-4,’ the munition has a 3,300-pound warhead. It is unclear if the missile hit its target in Israel at the time of writing.
