Iran launches missile strikes at US air bases in Qatar and Iraq in retaliation to bombing its nuclear sites

Iran launched missile attacks on Monday on US military bases in Qatar and Iraq, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites and escalating tensions in the volatile region.

In a statement, Iran's top security body said that its armed forces used the same number of bombs that the US had used in attacking its nuclear facilities, news agency Reuters reported. 

Iran is calling its missile operation ‘Annunciation of Victory’ against US bases in Iraq and Qatar, a Reuters report said. Confirming the attacks, Iran's military said it had carried out a "devastating and powerful" missile attack on the Al Udeid US airbase in Qatar.

According to an AP report, Qatar issued a statement condemning Iranian attack on air base, saying no casualties were reported in the attack. Qatari authorities also said that it reserved the right to respond.

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Qatar hosts Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US base in the Middle East, which serves as the forward headquarters for US Central Command and accommodates approximately 10,000 troops.

Iran had earlier threatened to retaliate against the US after it dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on Tehran three nuclear sites – Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan – on Sunday morning.

Iran launches attack on US base in Iraq

Iran also targeted the Ain al-Assad base housing US troops in western Iraq, an Iraqi security official told the AP. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly.

According to the report, the announcement was made on state television as martial music played. A caption on screen called it “a mighty and successful response by the armed forces of Iran to America’s aggression.”

The attacks 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 platform X: “We neither initiated the war nor seeking it. But we will not leave invasion to the great Iran without answer.”

Earlier in the day, Iran's armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi had vowed that the country would take "firm action" in response to US strikes on key nuclear sites.

"This crime and desecration will not go unanswered," said Mousavi in a video statement published on state TV, adding that "we will take firm action against the American mistake".

According to an AFP report, Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces "in the region or elsewhere" could be attacked.

Israel's latest strikes on Iran

Israel carried out “strikes of unprecedented force against regime targets and agencies of government oppression in the heart of Tehran,” an AFP report quoted Defence Minister Israel Katz as saying.

Katz said the targets included the notorious Evin prison in the city's north, known to hold political prisoners and dissidents as well as foreign detainees.

Iran's judiciary confirmed Evin was struck, reporting "damage" and stressing the situation was "under control".

Israel also carried out a strike on Fordow, according to the military and Iranian media, a day after US "bunker buster" bombs hit the underground nuclear site south of Tehran.

In Israel, air raid sirens sent people to bomb shelters on Monday, with the military reporting at least three missile barrages in less than two hours, the report added.

(With inputs from agencies)