Iran says its carried out 'mighty and successful' attack on US bases in Qatar and Iraq
Iran claims it has carried out a "mighty and successful response" to "America's aggression" after launching missile attacks on US military bases in Qatar and Iraq.
The attacks come after the US dropped "bunker buster bombs" on three key nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend.
Iran's response this evening is the latest escalation in tensions in the volatile region.
People in Qatar's capital, Doha, stopped and gazed up at the sky as missiles flew and interceptors fired - striking at least one missile in the night sky.
Iran announced on state television that it had attacked American forces stationed at Qatar's al Udeid airbase.
Qatar has said there are no casualties at the al Udeid base following the Iranian attack.
Iran also targeted the Ain al-Assad base housing US troops in western Iraq, an Iraqi security official told the Associated Press.
The attacks came shortly after Qatar closed its airspace as a precaution amid threats from Iran.
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Telegraph
23 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Why the Iran nuclear intelligence report is causing such controversy
Early US intelligence assessments appear to have challenged Donald Trump's claim that his bombing campaign 'totally obliterated' Tehran's nuclear weapons programme. The Pentagon's Defence Intelligence Agency, according to sources, suggests the attack had only set back Iran's ability to produce the bomb by a matter of months. The result was a furious reaction by the president and his top officials, accusing the media of pushing fake news. Yet there remains a string of questions that analysts must still answer before firm conclusions can be reached. For example, one of the sources cited by the Washington Post, who was familiar with the initial DIA report, said its conclusions were 'low confidence' in nature. This is spy speak for conclusions drawn from scant or fragmented evidence, or indicating concerns with sourcing. The dossier reportedly said that centrifuges used to enrich uranium that could be used in weapons remained intact. Other findings included that entrances to two of the facilities were sealed off but that underground structures had not been destroyed, and that enriched uranium had been moved to other locations. Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, said it was too early to make a concrete assessment of damage to facilities buried so far underground. 'Has someone shot their mouth off and I mean, what would they know?' he said. 'Nothing from overhead is going to tell you what the consequences of the attack are because it's deep underground.' Early assessments of damage include analysis of satellite imagery. Commercially available pictures show six deep holes around Fordow, one of the most fortified sites, buried inside a mountain, with debris spread around the site. One source said the assessment also included signals intelligence, based on communications between Iranian officials. Mr Trump referred to intercepts when he spoke with journalists on Thursday morning. 'Two Iranians went down to see it and they called back and they said, 'This place is gone,'' he said. But it could take weeks or months for Iran to conduct its own full damage assessments and for their information to filter into communications channels. Sir Richard, who led the Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 to 2004, said it was unlikely Iran had managed to get people inside the facilities to assess damage 'because of the problems of radiation and leaks'. He said the fact that it had come out in the public domain so rapidly raised another red flag. 'It does sort of politicise the whole thing as well,' he said. 'I mean, it does remind me of some of the stuff around Iraq going way back, and some of those reports that came out, and the arguments about them and the difficulty of sourcing, I just don't think people really know.' Classified briefings for both chambers of Congress had been expected on Tuesday but were cancelled. A Senate briefing is now expected on Thursday, when top members of Mr Trump's national security team will have returned from the Nato summit in the Hague, and one for the House will follow the next day. Chris Coons, a Democratic senator, said the intelligence community needed time to make a detailed assessment. 'This is the key to the question, what's next? If, in fact, there had been a successful destruction of all of Iran's dangerous nuclear enrichment program, I've said that would have been a significant accomplishment,' he told reporters in the Netherlands for the Nato summit. 'But if this pushes Iran and some of its partners to accelerate their enrichment program, it may have created a more dangerous situation in the region. 'The intelligence community needs the time without political interference to assess the impact and to deliver that assessment to Congress and the president.' Officials continued to point out the limited nature of the findings so far. 'This is a preliminary, low-confidence report and will continue to be refined as additional intelligence becomes available. We are working with the appropriate authorities to investigate the unauthorised disclosure of classified information,' said a senior DIA official. The initial Israeli intelligence assessment of the attacks is more optimistic, stating the attacks caused 'very significant' damage. However, Mossad has not yet reached a full conclusion. 'A professional battle damage assessment takes time,' an Israeli official told Axios. 'Israeli intelligence services haven't arrived at any bottom lines for now,' the official added. 'But we don't think there was any bug in the operation, and we have no indications the bunker-buster bombs didn't work. Nobody here is disappointed.'
Daily Mail
31 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump compares Iran strikes to atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: NATO Summit live
President Donald Trump is using his NATO trip to double down on his 'total obliteration' of Iran 's nuclear sites and has blasted the media for reporting on an intelligence assessment that cast doubt on the matter. Trump also compared his airstrike to the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan that ended World War II, hits that 'ended the war.' 'I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki. But that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war,' he told reporters at The Hague. Trump also blasted the media, calling them 'scum' for revealing the findings of the U.S. intelligence assessment. ' CNN is scum, the New York Times is scum, MSNBC is scum,' he said. 'They're bad people, they're sick. And what they've done is they want to turn this incredible victory into something less,' he added. Trump is expected to get some good news out of the summit – the alliance is expected to approve his call to raise defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product. Wednesday's NATO meeting is Trump's fourth foreign trip of his second term. He's received a royal welcome, becoming the first American president to spend the night at the Dutch royal palace, and he joined the toasts at Tuesday night's welcome dinner. The president is spending less that 24 hours in the Netherlands but has a packed trip, including a meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and a formal press conference. Trump compares Iran strike to Hiroshima and Nagasaki President Donald Trump compared his airstrikes on Iran's nuclear sites to the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan that ended World War II. His strikes also ended a war, he noted, pointing to the Israel and Iran ceasefire. 'That hit ended the war,' Trump said. 'I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki. But that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war.' 'If we didn't take that out, they would have been they'd be fighting right now,' he added. Trump didn't rule out another airstrike if necessary. When asked whether the US would strike again if Iran built its nuclear enrichment program, he replied: 'Sure.' Trump blasts 'scum' media on leaked intelligence report President Donald Trump repeatedly slammed the media for its reports on a U.S. intelligence assessment that cast doubts on the airstrike's ability to take out Iran's nuclear program. CNN and The New York Times both reported on a leaked intelligence assessment that stated the weekend strikes against key nuclear facilities in the country only set back Iran's nuclear programme by a couple months. 'We had a tremendous success,' Trump told reporters at his first NATO meeting. 'And this is the New York Times. I call it the failing New York Times. It's going to hell. And CNN, which is, you know, very few people are watching, and you would think they'd do the opposite.' 'So it's just fake news by CNN, which has got no ratings. It's a failed network,' he added. 'CNN is scum, the New York Times is scum, MSNBC is scum,' he said. 'They're bad people, they're sick. And what they've done is they want to turn this incredible victory into something less,' he noted. The president also made a furious post on the matter to his Truth Social account from the Netherlands at what would have been near 4am local time. 'Fake news CNN, together with the failing New York Times, have teamed up in an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history,' he wrote. Leak investigation begun into intelligence report The Pentagon has begun an investigation into the leaked intelligence report on the airstrike on Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the FBI has taken the lead on conducting the probe after CNN, the New York Times and other outlets obtained the report. 'We're doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now, because this information is for internal purposes, battle damage assessments, and CNN and others are trying to spin it to make the president look bad,' he said during the NATO meeting. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued the leakers had an agenda. 'This is what a leaker is telling you the intelligence says,' he said of the report. 'That's the game these people play. They read it and then they go out and characterize it the way they want it characterized. And they're leakers. This is the game they play.' He added it was 'against the law' to leak the information and told the media the leakers 'characterize it for you in a way that's absolutely false.' Trump defends Iran strike, calling it a 'total obliteration' President Donald Trump doubled down on the success of the American airstrike on Iran after an intelligence assessment cast doubt about it. 'I believe it was total obliteration,' the president said. And he cast doubt on the intelligence report. 'The intelligence was very inconclusive. The intelligence says "we don't know,'' he said. He also dismissed reports the Iranians were able to remove enriched uranium ahead of the strike. 'I believe they didn't have a chance to get anything out, because we acted fast. If it would have taken two weeks, maybe. But it's very hard to remove that kind of material, very hard and very dangerous for them to remove it,' the president said. 'Plus they knew we were coming, and if they know we're coming, they're not going to be down there. There aren't too many people that are going to be down there.' Trump's top aides, sitting next to him in his meeting with NATO President Mark Rutte, backed the president. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called it a 'flawless mission' and slammed the intelligence report's findings. 'When you actually look at the report, by the way, it was a top secret report. It was preliminary. It was low confidence,' he said. 11:45 NATO president Mark Rutte gushes over Trump NATO President Mark Rutte had news that pleased President Donald Trump: the alliance will decide unanimously for countries to raise defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product. Trump has long wanted a 5% contribution, up from the 2% being used. 'I've been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years, and they're going up to 5%,' the president said in his one-on-one with Rutte. Rutte repeatedly praised Trump for pressuring the member states to ramp up their spending. He has courted Trump ahead of the trip, texting him a congratulations note on the strike on Iran that Trump shared on social media. The NATO president also noted the contribution increase would not have happened 'if Trump would not have been elected president of the United States.' 'This would not have happened if you would not have been elected in 2016 and re elected last year and back into office in January. So I want to thank you,' Rutte told the president. There could, however, be some objections from member nations who aren't happy about the new spending level. Spain, in particular, is angry about it. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that his country would contribute 'no more, no less' than 2.1%. It also remains unclear if the United States will meet the 5% contribution mark. Currently the U.S. contributes 3.5% and Trump has argued that is enough. Trump reassures NATO members on Article Five President Donald Trump offered uneasy NATO members some reassurance about his commitment to the alliance, saying he was with them 'all the way.' Trump has long cast doubt he would support NATO's Article 5, which requires members to defend each other from attack. On the plane ride over on Tuesday, he was noncommittal when asked about. But he was more reassuring on Wednesday. When asked about Article 5, Trump told reporters: 'We're with them all the way.' Article 5 is seen as a sacrosanct pillar of the NATO alliance. It has only been used once: on September 11, 2001 when the NATO countries backed America after the terrorist attack. 11:42 NATO summit is Trump's fourth foreign trip The president is expected to spend less than 24 hours in the Netherlands, where, in addition to meeting with NATO leaders, he'll meet with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump started his trip with a family photo and a group dinner on Tuesday night, where he sat next to Dutch Queen Maxima. 11:39 Trump starts NATO summit on royal note President Donald Trump started off his day at NATO on a royal note, having breakfast with Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima. The Dutch royals invited Trump to spend the night at Huis Ten Bosch palace, an offer the president accepted. It marks the first time an American president stayed at palace. And Trump expressed his appreciation. 'The day begins in the beautiful Netherlands. The King and Queen are beautiful and spectacular people. Our breakfast meeting was great! Now it's off to the very important NATO Meetings. The USA will be very well represented!,' the president wrote on his Truth Social account.
Daily Mirror
35 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
'Daddy Donald' and the death of NATO dignity - How Rutte became Trump's puppet
A NATO Secretary General might endure many indignities in the name of diplomacy, including backroom compromises, bruising negotiations, and the occasional awkward photo op with despots in suits. But calling Donald Trump 'daddy' isn't one of them. At least, it never was until Mark Rutte arrived. The former Dutch prime minister and now NATO's top official referred to Trump as 'daddy' - a grotesque, grovelling gesture that might have raised eyebrows in a diplomatic dispatch but instead exploded into public farce during a high-stakes summit of alliance leaders. 'Sometimes daddy has to use strong words,' Rutte beamed, defending Trump's crude outburst in front of reporters, where the president shouted, 'They don't know what the f*** they're doing,'** in reference to the Iran-Israel ceasefire fiasco he claims to have masterminded. Forget diplomacy. Forget leadership. NATO, under Rutte, has started to resemble a glorified babysitting service for a toddler with nuclear launch codes. It would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous. Rutte's nauseating sycophancy is not just a personal humiliation; it's a strategic collapse. At a moment when the alliance should be asserting its independence and clarity of mission, it has instead wrapped itself around Trump's ego like a silk cravat on a noose. Gone is the guarded caution of past NATO heads. In its place, we now have something akin to Joseph Goebbels writing fan mail to Hitler - an image that feels uncomfortably close when you read the actual text message Rutte sent to Trump, which the president gleefully published. 'Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran,' Rutte wrote, referring to Trump's unilateral bombing campaign. 'That was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer.' It doesn't. And Rutte surely knows that. The strikes were condemned as reckless and 'unwise and unnecessary' by senior officials, who warned they could provoke the very conflict they were supposedly meant to deter. Trump's claim to have held the Israel-Iran ceasefire together lasted barely 24 hours. Rutte's message, meanwhile, read less like praise and more like erotic fiction. 'You are flying into another big success in The Hague this evening… Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment… You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.' Who knew the nuclear deterrence strategy of the West hinged on breathless love notes? What makes Rutte's behaviour particularly grotesque is the sheer hypocrisy of it. As Dutch prime minister, he consistently failed to meet NATO's defence spending target of two per cent of gross domestic product. Now, in his desperate quest to stay in Trump's favour, he's bragging about getting European leaders to commit to a staggering five per cent of GDP on defence - a militaristic fantasy straight from Trump's own wet dreams. Rutte has gone from pragmatic European liberal to a kind of grinning courtier, performing loyalty rituals for an emperor with no clothes. He's not the only one, of course. NATO leaders have spent the latest summit tiptoeing around Trump like terrified interns trying not to spill coffee on a tantrum-prone CEO. The summit was stripped down to three hours. The official communique was slashed to a single page. Not to streamline diplomacy, but to avoid provoking Trump into one of his trademark rage exits. It would be comical if the stakes weren't existential. The alliance was forged to deter tyranny, defend liberal democracy, and confront authoritarianism. Under Rutte, it is flirting with all three. The Secretary General's job is to unify 31 nations in a common cause, not whisper sweet nothings to a man who once threatened to pull America out of the alliance entirely. What kind of message does this send to allies? To Russia? To Iran? To China? That NATO no longer leads, it follows - not strategy, not principle, but personality. And that the only way to hold the West together is to soothe the tantrums of a man who treats global diplomacy like reality TV. We can't afford this. NATO is not Mar-a-Lago with fighter jets. Its credibility is fragile, its mission vital, and its unity under threat from within. Mark Rutte was supposed to bring experience and backbone to the role. Instead, he's turned NATO into a stage for Trump's delusions. While porn star Stormy Daniels may have once called Trump 'daddy', Rutte's humiliation came without even taking off his clothes.
