The U.S. Embassy in Qatar, seen here in this undated photo, issued a statement June 23, 2025, advising all Americans in the country to shelter in place until further notice. Qatar is home to Al Udeid Air Base, which is one of the largest U.S. military installations in the Middle East and also acts as forward headquarters for U.S. Central Command and Air Forces Central Command. (Courtesy photo/State Department)

Iran on Monday launched missile attacks on U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the nation announced on state media Monday, as Tehran retaliates for the severe damage caused to its nuclear sites by American forces a day earlier.

Explosions were heard over Qatar on Monday night, following an earlier advisory for Americans to shelter in place amid reports that an Iranian attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East could be imminent.

Qatar issued a statement condemning the Iranian attack on the air base and said that no casualties had been reported as of 8:20 p.m. local time.

“Qatari air defenses successfully intercepted a missile attack targeting Al-Udeid Air Base,” the Qatari Defense Ministry said in a post on the social media site X.

Iran said the number of missiles launched at Qatar was the same as the number of bombs dropped by the U.S. on Iranian nuclear sites, The Associated Press reported.

Iran attacked U.S. forces using short-range and medium missiles that were intercepted en route, two U.S. officials said.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that there were no reports of casualties and added that the attack was no longer occurring as of Monday night local time in Qatar.

The official could not confirm whether there had been an attack on U.S. forces in Iraq, as had been earlier reported.

Iran has not claimed that it had launched a direct attack there. In the past, Iranian-backed militias have launched attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq.  

The alert earlier in the day from the U.S. Embassy in Doha came after President Donald Trump authorized strikes on three high-profile Iranian nuclear facilities on an early Sunday morning in Iran.

The embassy said it issued the advisory out of “an abundance of caution.” The United Kingdom issued its own advisory, urging British nationals in Qatar to shelter in place until further notice.

Qatar closed its airspace on Monday, according to the AP.

Air sirens were also heard in Bahrain, the headquarters for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. An all-clear message was sent out shortly afterward. Bahrain has also closed its airspace “as a precautionary measure in light of recent regional developments,” according to a statement from its transportation ministry.

Al Udeid Air Base is one of the largest U.S. military installations in the Middle East. The base acts as forward headquarters for U.S. Central Command and Air Forces Central Command.

It has been operating under restricted access since at least Friday, according to the embassy.

Air Forces Central Command referred to the embassy announcement when asked whether Monday’s advisory affected military personnel there.

Around the globe, leaders were watching closely to see how Tehran responds to the U.S. attacks, which were characterized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as a precision strike that devastated Iran’s nuclear program.

The White House has urged Iran to rejoin diplomacy talks and warned that any retaliation would result in severe consequences.

But some leaders in Tehran were calling for strikes against U.S. bases in the Middle East, where the Council on Foreign Relations estimates that some 40,000 American troops are deployed. Al Udeid houses between 5,000 and 10,000 U.S. personnel at any given time.

The State Department had already advised U.S. citizens in Qatar to exercise increased caution in the wake of the airstrikes Sunday on three Iranian uranium enrichment facilities.

Throughout the region, U.S. personnel are on high alert. At Naval Support Activity Bahrain, base access is restricted to mission-critical personnel only.

American bases in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Syria could also be targets for Iran or its proxy militias, experts said prior to the Iranian missile strikes on Qatar.

In 2020, Iran launched 16 missiles at troops at al Asad Air Base in Iraq after the U.S. killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, a longtime target. The attack left 110 survivors with traumatic brain injuries. One soldier who was diagnosed with TBI later died by suicide.

U.S. service members, diplomats and their families in the region are at greater risk now than at any moment since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel in 2023, said Caroline Zier, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. She was deputy chief of staff to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“Iran is militarily degraded, with conventional forces and a nuclear program hopefully set back substantially,” Zier wrote in an analysis following the U.S. strikes. “But Tehran retains a wide range of asymmetric tools; it will both retaliate in the near term and attempt to rebuild its nuclear program and conventional capabilities over time.”

The Trump administration said it did not intend to carry out more strikes in Iran unless U.S. interests were attacked.

Israel continued its bombing campaign in Iran on Monday, striking command centers in Tehran and routes leading to the same enrichment site in Fordo that the U.S. hit Sunday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Stars and Stripes reporter Shannon Renfroe contributed to this report from Manama, Bahrain.