US allies in Gulf shut airspace as Tehran attacks Qatar base
Iran’s military said it carried out a missile attack on the Al Udeid US airbase in Qatar on Monday after explosions were heard across the Qatari capital following Tehran’s threat to retaliate for US airstrikes on its nuclear sites.
The Iranian military said the attack was “devastating and powerful” but US officials said no US personnel were killed or injured in the attack on the airbase, the largest US military installation in West Asia.
Iran, which had been warned by Washington not to retaliate or face massive US military action, had informed the US via two diplomatic channels hours ahead of the attack, as well as the Qatari authorities, a senior regional source said.
Qatar’s defence minister told Al Jazeera its air defences had intercepted missiles directed at the Al Udeid airbase.
Iran had issued threats to retaliate against the US after its bombers dropped 30,000-pound bunker-busters on Iranian underground nuclear facilities at the weekend, joining Israel’s air war against Tehran, and President Donald Trump mooted the possibility of the Iranian government being toppled.
The attack came shortly after a Western diplomat said there had been a credible threat to a US military base in the Gulf state following the unprecedented US airstrikes on Iran’s uranium enrichment programme.
A source familiar with the matter said Qatar, situated just across the Gulf from Iran, had shut its airspace after receiving the advance warning from Iran.
Bahrain, another US-allied Gulf Arab state just to the north of Qatar, said it had also shut its airspace after the Iranian strike against the Al Udeid base.
In addition, the US Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq had activated its air defence system out of concern for a potential attack, military sources said.
The main US military base in Iraq’s western neighbour Syria was also on full alert for possible attack by Iran or Iran-aligned militia groups, a Syrian security source said.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday assured Tehran of Moscow’s support in de-escalating the Israel-Iran conflict hours after the US strikes at Iranian nuclear sites.
Putin met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who came to Moscow on Sunday night for consultations with the Russian leadership and was expected to deliver a letter from Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“This is an absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran, has no basis or justification,” Putin said on US strikes at Iran’s key nuclear sites ordered by President Donald Trump.
“We have long-standing, good and reliable relations with Iran. On our part, we are making efforts to help the Iranian people,” Putin told Araghchi.
Asked what support and help Russia can offer to Iran, Kremlin spokesman Demitry Peskov said Moscow could offer various forms of support to Iran amid the escalation in West Asia, but it was up to Tehran to articulate what help it wanted.
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