Live Updates: Israel and Iran Agree to Cease-Fire Announced By Trump
Iran's strike on an American air base in Qatar on Monday appeared to be a carefully calibrated retaliation to U.S. attacks on its nuclear sites last week. The strike was limited in scope and echoed Iran's response in 2020 to the U.S. assassination of a top Iranian general.
The Iranian strike on Monday targeted Al Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East, and initially deepened fears that the conflict between Iran and Israel could expand in the region.
But the immediate consequences of the strike, at least for the direct conflict between the United States and Iran, appeared limited: President Trump said 13 of the 14 missiles Iran fired were downed and that there were no injuries or deaths among the roughly 10,000 American troops typically hosted there. A U.S. military spokesman said that the remaining missile had been allowed to land harmlessly. Satellite images captured by Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based Earth imaging company, showed that the base was nearly empty of aircraft ahead of the attack. Mr. Trump said the damage at the base was minimal.
Three Iranian officials said on Monday that their government had provided a warning about the strike to minimize potential casualties — allowing Iran a reprisal for the U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites while offering a way out of the direct conflict for both countries. Mr. Trump also said Iran had provided advance notice of the strike. 'CONGRATULATIONS WORLD, IT'S TIME FOR PEACE!' he said on social media.
Similarly, Iran sent out an alert before retaliating in 2020 to the U.S. assassination of Iran's most powerful security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport. It was a staggering blow for Iran and for Iranians, many of whom regarded him as a national hero. The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed a 'forceful revenge.'
But days later, when Iran fired a series of ballistic missiles at American troops in Iraq, it gave the Iraqi government notice of the impending attack. The office of Iraq's prime minister at the time, Adel Abdul Mahdi, said in a statement that it had received 'an official verbal message' from Iran that its retaliation for the killing of General Suleimani had begun or would begin shortly and would be limited to sites where American troops were present.
The Pentagon said more than two dozen missiles were fired at two military bases in Iraq where American troops were stationed, Al-Asad and Erbil. Shortly after those strikes, both sides appeared to stand down. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on social media that Iran had 'concluded proportionate measures in self-defense' and that his country did 'not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.'
As in Iran's attack on Al Udeid on Monday, Mr. Trump suggested in 2020 that initial assessments had found minimal damage and few casualties sustained by American forces. The Defense Department later said that more than 100 American service members had sustained traumatic brain injuries from the Iranian strikes on Al-Asad Air Base but that most had returned to duty.
Eric Schmitt and Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting.
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