Following the U.S. attack, Saturday night, on Iran’s nuclear facilities, there had been much speculation on how, exactly, Iran might try to retaliate against the U.S. With cyberattacks? With terrorism? By closing off oil shipping routes? Or by attacking U.S. interests, in the Middle East or elsewhere?
Iran, at least at first, appears to have opted for the last of those options, with an attack on U.S. bases in Qatar and Iraq.
According to Newsweek, the attack struck Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Qatar, for its part, claimed that its defense systems had blocked the missiles, and no casualties were reported.
“I can confirm that 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 U.S. casualties. We are monitoring this situation closely and will provide more information as it becomes available,” a Pentagon official told Newsweek.
The attack followed Qatar’s decision to close its airspace amid rising tensions and explicit threats from Tehran. https://t.co/Y1bhXM19ao
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) June 23, 2025
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Iran indicated, per the report, that it had launched a quantity of missiles that “matched the number of bombs dropped by the U.S. over the weekend,” indicating that perhaps that represented the extent of their retaliation.
“I think we should be hopeful that this is the one maneuver that Iran feels like they have. They’ve struck back at the ‘Great Satan,’ the U.S. The conflict may still rage between Iran and Israel,” former U.S. Navy Commander Kirk Lippold told CNN this week, as reported by Newsweek.
“This may have been their [Iran’s] one shot. That will be good. It gives both sides a critical window of time to discuss the two key points, dismantling Iran’s nuclear program and turning over all nuclear materials they have to date.”
Put maga on the front line. Take everyone who jumped over the counter at the subway they work at and took their shirt off yelling come at me bro! MAGA and send them to Qatar. You voted for this. https://t.co/b8CI6Nex8h.
— Mazur Radio (@MazurRadio) June 23, 2025
According to Axios, the U.S. had plenty of advance warning about the attack.
“The base that was targeted in the attack by the powerful Iranian forces was far from urban facilities and residential areas in Qatar,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement this week, as cited by Axios. “This action did not pose any threat to our friendly and brotherly country, Qatar, and its noble people.”
Photo courtesy of YouTube screengrab
