President Donald Trump summoned top officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine to the White House’s Situation Room Monday afternoon amid reports of Iranian attacks targeting U.S. troops in Qatar, according to a senior White House official who was in the room, granted anonymity to discuss the developing situation.
The official added that the White House and the Defense Department are monitoring the situation in both Qatar, Iraq and elsewhere across the Middle East where the U.S. has military bases.
Iran claimed responsibility for an attack on the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in a statement from the country’s armed forces. A U.S. official, also granted anonymity to discuss a developing situation, confirmed that missiles were fired toward the base.
Israel and Iran have been exchanging fire since Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities nearly two weeks ago. The U.S. entered the conflict this weekend by bombing some key Iranian nuclear sites.
The Monday strikes suggest Iran is willing to broaden the fight, targeting U.S. troops and nations allied with Washington elsewhere in the Middle East — a situation Trump had sought to avoid by urging Iran to return to the negotiating table.
Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both confirmed and condemned the attack in a statement, calling it a “flagrant violation” of Qatari sovereignty. Al-Ansari added that Qatar’s air defenses “successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles.”
“Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner equivalent with the nature and scale of this brazen aggression, in line with international law,” al-Ansari said. Qatar has long tried to maintain relations — often quietly — with virtually all sides in the conflict.
Iran’s leaders are caught in a dilemma of needing to respond forcefully while trying to avoid a large-scale reprisal from the United States.
“How do you respond in a way that allows you to save face, but that doesn’t end up leading to you losing your head?” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, of the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington.
Iran’s Islamist regime also has been significantly weakened by this month’s strikes from Israel, according to Taleblu.
Before the open conflict with Israel erupted in mid-June, Iran had the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East, with as many as 3,000 missiles, and more than 400 launchers. Israel’s strikes, however, are believed to have taken out roughly 40 percent of its launch infrastructure, limiting its ability to use those missiles, Taleblu said.
Amy Mackinnon and Felicia Schwartz contributed to this report.
Trump convenes Situation Room meeting as Iran claims attack on US base in Qatar
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