United States President, Donald Trump, has reacted to Monday retaliatory missiles launch by Iran on Al-Udeid, the American airbase in Qatar, thanking Iran for the advance notice while describing the attack as a “very weak response.”
Reacting to the attack on his Truth Social platform, President Trump wrote, “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.”
LEADERSHIP recalls that Iran had vowed to respond to the US bombing of the country’s nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan on Saturday amid ongoing conflict with Israel.
New Chief of Staff, Iranian armed forces, Abdolrahim Mousavi, had in a short statement on Monday, accused the United States of violating Iran’s sovereignty for attacking the nuclear sites, declaring that the US had “entered the war clearly and directly”.
Meanwhile, a US defense official told Fox News Digital, that Iran used short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles to attack Al-Udeid base without casualties.
Trump added that Iran has “gotten it all out of their ‘system,’ and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE,” thanking Iran for giving the U.S. “early warning” of the attack to minimise casualties.
“Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
However, Qatari foreign ministry has termed the attack as “brazen aggression,” after saying the missiles were successfully intercepted.
“The State of Qatar strongly condemns the attack that targeted Al-Udeid Air Base by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. We consider this a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the State of Qatar,” spokesperson Majed Al Ansari posted on X.
“We reassure that Qatar’s air defenses successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles.”
The United States embassy in Kuwait has issued a security alert, limiting base access to only essential personnel while the embassy in Bahrain shifted some of its employees to telework.
Just before the attack, Iran’s President Mahmoud Pezeshkian had issued a warning promising not to let Saturday’s strikes on its nuclear facilities go “unanswered.”
“We neither initiated the war nor wanted it; but we will not leave the aggression against #GreaterIran unanswered. We will stand by the security of this #belovednation with all our being and respond to every wound on Iran’s body with faith, wisdom, and determination,” he wrote on X.
Iran reportedly gave both U.S. and Qatari officials advanced notice of the attacks. It would be a strategy similar to the response to the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, where Iran needed to symbolically respond without escalating the conflict beyond what it could handle.
A spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces said its Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out the attack: “We warn our enemies that the era of hit and run is over.”
Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have all closed their airspaces amidst the attack.
