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By Miriam Raftery
June 23, 2025 (al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar) – Iran has fired multiple missiles at the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East, al-Udeid in Qatar. The attack was launched in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran.
Qatar’s air defenses intercepted the missile attack, and there have been no reports of injuries, CNN reports., Qatar condemned Iran’s attack on the air base, calling it “a flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and airspace.”
Following the bombing of the nuclear sites, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Iran “will never leave any aggression against its territorial integrity, sovereignty, or national security unanswered.”
In the streets of Tehran, Iranians celebrated news of the missile strikes against the American military base, Reuters reports.
The U.S. bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran were done in support of Israel over fears that Iran could develop nuclear weapons. Iran retaliated by bombing Israel, with multiple further bombing exchanges by both sides.
More than 400 people have been killed in Iran and another 3,056 injured, according to Iran, while Israel has said that Iranian missile strikes have killed 25 people in Israel and injured 2,517 Israelis.
Iran officially has claimed it is not developing nuclear weapons, and experts have said that there is no evidence that Iran had or was close to attaining nuclear weapons. But it has increased its uranium enrichment and uranium stockpiles to concerning levels.
That began after President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear nonproliferation treaty in 2018 that President Barack Obama and negotiated, and initiated new sanctions on the regime.
Tehran responded by halting compliance with parts of the agreement, and started increasing uranium enrichment and uranium stockpiles, and using advanced centrifuges, CNN reports. Iran also removed all equipment from the International Atomic Energy Agency previously installed for surveillance and monitoring activities.
The Biden administration was unsuccess in its efforts to resurrect the nuclear pact with Iran.
In 2023, the International Atomic Energy Agency said uranium particles enriched to 83.7% purity – close to bomb-grade levels – were found at an Iranian nuclear facility.. An IAEA report sent to member states late last month said Iran’s stock of 60% purity enriched uranium had now grown to 408 kilograms. That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons.
Last year, the US shortened Iran’s time needed to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon – “to one or two weeks.”
Trump has said the US dropped 30 bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s largest nuclear site, Fordow, buried in a mountain side. Trump claimed “Fordow is gone.”
But questions have been raised over the truthfulness of that claim. The BBC reported that Fox News host Sean Hannity posted fake video claiming to show the bombed nuclear site in Iran, but in fact the video showed Israeli air strikes in Syria in December 2024.
U.S. strikes on Iran likely inflicted “very significant damage” on three of its major nuclear facilities, the head of the United Nations-led International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Monday, the Hill reports. Speaking at an emergency gathering of the IAEA board of governors, Director-General Rafael Grossi stressed the impact hasn’t been independently assessed underground because of the ongoing conflict.
“There needs to be a cessation of hostilities for the necessary safety and security conditions to prevail so that Iran can let IAEA teams into the sites to assess the situation,” he said. “We continue to monitor the situation and encourage the Iranian regulator to maintain its contact with the IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre.”
The U.S. bombing of Iran has raised several concerns.
NBC reports that prior to the bombing, Iran sent a message to President Trump at the G7 summit that if he ordered strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, then Iran could activate sleeper cells in the U.S. to launch terror attacks.
There are also fears of missile strikes against other U.S. air bases in the Middle East, where 10,000 American troops are within 15 minutes striking distance of Iranian air attacks.
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