Iranian strikes on Al Udeid Air Base

Overview

On 23 June 2025, Iran launched missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, in retaliation for the United States strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on 22 June as part of the Twelve-Day War. The attack, codenamed Operation Glad Tidings of Victory, followed a 16 June drone attack by Iran on the US consulate in Erbil, Iraq. It was Iran's second attack on a US base, after Operation Martyr Soleimani in 2020. Iran warned Qatar and the US hours before the attack, as it had before its response to the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. Shortly after, the Taji military base and Imam Ali base in Iraq were both attacked by drones.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

On 23 June 2025, Iran launched missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar under the codename Operation Glad Tidings of Victory, marking a direct Iranian strike on a major US forward base in the Gulf in direct retaliation for American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities the previous day. The attack represented a significant escalation within the Twelve-Day War, extending the conflict's geographic reach beyond Iranian territory and into the Gulf and Iraq simultaneously, as drone strikes also hit the Taji military base and Imam Ali base in Iraq shortly after. Iran issued advance warning to Qatar and the United States before the strike, mirroring the pre-notification it gave before Operation Martyr Soleimani in 2020, suggesting a calibrated signaling posture alongside the use of force. The attack was Iran's second direct strike on a US installation, following the 2020 operation, and came days after a 16 June Iranian drone attack on the US consulate in Erbil, indicating a sustained and escalating Iranian retaliatory campaign across multiple theatres during the war.