What we know about Iran’s attack on the US base in Qatar

Iran fired rockets at an American military base in Qatar, while saying it was the revenge against the American strikes against its nuclear sites during the weekend.

Witnesses reported hearing loud explosions in the sky over the capital, Doha, while videos showed a bright flash in the sky where air defense systems tried to intercept missiles.

This is the latest escalation in a conflict that included Iran, Israel and the United States, which has witnessed tensions in the Middle East that rises to unprecedented levels in recent days.

This is what we know.

Iranian missiles targeted the largest American military base in the Middle East, while it said it was in response to the detonation of three of its nuclear program facilities on Saturday evening.

Woody is the home of the US military headquarters for all air operations in the region. Some British military personnel serve there to rotate.

The attack was first confirmed by the Iranian government media, and then by the army.

“Iran will not leave any attack on its sovereignty without answering,” said a statement issued by Irgc, the strongest branch in the Iranian army.

The United States had warned by Iran against responding to its strikes on nuclear facilities and urged the leaders in Tehran to agree to a diplomatic end in hostilities in the region.

There were various reports on the number of missiles launched. Reuters said that the six were the six of the six, and Reuters informed Qatar as saying 19 – and added that all of them had been intercepted.

None was reported to be killed or wounded.

In the hours before the attack, both the United States and the United Kingdom advised its citizens in Qatar “shelter in place.” About 8,000 American citizens live in Qatar, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as several thousand British citizens.

It was clearly clear that Iran had warned that it was preparing to launch the missiles. Three of the Iranian officials reported by the New York Times said that Tehran told Doha about its intentions, as a way to reduce losses.

In his first comments, President Donald Trump thanked Iran “for giving us an early notice, which made it possible to waste any life, and no one is hurt.”

He said he described the attack as “very weak” – no American was damaged and caused very few damages. “They took everything out of their regime,” he said, and said there is now an opportunity for “peace.”

However, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Qatar said that the attack was a “surprise” and a “flagrant violation of its sovereignty”, adding that Qatar was “one of the first countries to warn of the dangers of Israeli escalation in the region.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khounai said that Iran did not harm anyone in the attack, but his country will not “be violated by anyone.”

“We have not violated anyone, and we will not accept in any way to violate anyone. We will not undergo a violation of anyone; this is the logic of the Iranian nation.”

There were indications on Monday that the suspect was preparing to launch missiles in Qatar.

Hours before the attack, Qatar said it closed temporarily in the airspace, shortly after the United States and the United Kingdom told citizens in Qatar that “shelter is in place.”

These warnings did not give a clear indication that the attack was imminent: the United States said it had issued a “outfit of caution”, while the UK said it was following the progress of the Americans.

However, about an hour before the attack, the BBC learned of a “reliable threat” of al -Qaeda.

Separately, some American media reported unknown American officials as saying that they were put in place for a possible launch towards Qatar.

Aviation tracking sites showed that the planes have already started to shift to other airports before launch. According to Flightradar24, there were 100 trips to Doha shortly before the discovery of missile launch.

Hamad International Airport is one of the 10 best more than 10 runs in the world for the international traffic, with about 140,000 passengers per day.

Other countries in the region, including Bahrain and Kuwait, have also closed the airspace for a short period.

The United States fired huge strikes against three nuclear facilities inside Iran on Saturday.

This came days after the uncertainty about whether the United States would join Israel’s military action against Iran, which started on June 13.

Israel launched daily missile strikes against nuclear and military facilities inside Iran, whose government says it is necessary to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon.

The successive Israeli and American governments have sought to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran has always maintained its broad nuclear program for civil purposes.

The United States claimed that its strikes were severely damaged nuclear program, although the full range of its effect is still unclear.

The attacks between Iran and Israel continued on Sunday and Monday.