US President Donald Trump summoned senior officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Keane, to the White House Situation Room on Monday afternoon after Iran launched attacks on US forces at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. According to officials, the White House and the Department of Defense are monitoring the situation in Qatar, Iraq, and other locations in the Middle East where US military bases are located, possibly in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.
Iran claimed responsibility for an attack on the US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, in a statement issued by the country's armed forces.
According to official sources in Washington, the US administration anticipated an attack on Al Udeid Air Base and evacuated it in recent days.
CNN quoted a US official as saying that President Trump does not want to renew the military campaign, and that he wants the operation to end, especially now that, according to him, the country's nuclear capabilities have been completely destroyed.
Israel and Iran have been exchanging fire since Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities about two weeks ago. The United States entered the conflict this weekend by bombing key Iranian nuclear sites. Monday's strikes indicate that Iran is preparing to expand the fighting, targeting American forces and allied countries elsewhere in the Middle East—a situation Trump has sought to avoid by urging Iran to return to the negotiating table.
For his part, Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed and condemned the attack in a statement, describing it as a "flagrant violation" of Qatari sovereignty. Al-Ansari added that Qatari air defenses "successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles."
Al-Ansari said, "Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner proportionate to the nature and magnitude of this blatant aggression, in accordance with international law." Qatar has long sought to maintain its relations—often quietly—with virtually all parties to the conflict.
According to experts, Iran's leaders find themselves in a dilemma of responding forcefully while trying to avoid a large-scale retaliation from the United States.
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Trump meets with his national security team to respond to Iran's retaliatory strikes on several