Iran provides warning before attack on US base in Qatar. No Americans killed; Trump announces ceasefire

Editor’s note: This story has been updated since initial publication.

Iran launched a retaliatory attack on the United States air base in Qatar on Monday, but only after warning the attack was coming, an apparent attempt to de-escalate hostilities between the two countries. All but one of the missiles fired in the attack were intercepted, US President Donald Trump said, and no Americans or Qataris were killed or injured. In a series of posts on social media, Trump called the attack “very weak” but used the occasion to suggest that Iranian leaders may have “gotten it all out of their ‘system,’ and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE.”

In a subsequent post on Truth Social, Trump said Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire after days of Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iranian counterattacks on Israel, and an American attack over the weekend on Iranian nuclear facilities with bunker-buster bombs Israel does not possess. There was no immediate confirmation of a ceasefire from Israeli or Iranian officials.

The telegraphed Iranian attack on the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and Trump’s almost immediate calls for peace followed by just two days the US bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday. The American attack came just days after President Donald Trump suggested he would wait two weeks before deciding whether to take military action. US warplanes and submarines reportedly attacked nuclear facilities at Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan, in actions that Trump said in a White House address constituted a “spectacular military success” that had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities.

Trump provided no documentation for his claims, and some observers questioned whether a detailed battle damage assessment could have been completed by the time Trump spoke. On Saturday, Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar at Columbia University and former director for Iran at the National Security Council, wrote on the Bluesky social media site, “Suggestion, folks: it is the middle of the night in Iran. We have no battle damage assessment. We have a tweet. We will know more things soon and likely not know things for a while longer. Asking questions is fair, but answers fleeting. Hot takes exciting but not diagnostic.”

On Saturday, the New York Times quoted an unidentified US official saying that “six B-2 bombers dropped a dozen 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs on the Fordo nuclear site, which lies deep underground, and Navy submarines fired 30 TLAM cruise missiles at the Natanz and Isfahan sites. One B-2 also dropped two bunker busters on Natanz.” In a Sunday presentation, Pentagon officials said initial damage assessments indicate the three sites suffered severe damage but a final battle damage report would take time. It remained unclear whether equipment or enriched uranium had been moved from the sites that were attacked.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that his country “reserves all options to defend itself after U.S. strikes on its nuclear facilities” that the attacks were “outrageous and will have everlasting consequences,” the Reuters news service reported.

The US attacks run counter to Trump’s oft-stated desire to avoid “forever wars” and raised an array of troubling future possibilities, including Iranian retaliation against American forces in the Middle East and an Iranian sprint to create nuclear weapons. In a White House address on Saturday, Trump said “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater, and a lot easier.” In his short speech, Trump also thanked and congratulated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We worked as a team like perhaps no team has worked before.” Netanyahu fulsomely returned the praise.

The leaders’ assertions that the United States and Israeli had worked as a hand-in-glove team represented a near-complete public about-face for the Trump administration. During the early phases of the recent Israeli military campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, the administration took great pains to distance itself from Israeli attacks. “We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Secretary of State Marco said just nine days ago.

Before and after Saturday’s attacks, many experts said that direct US military action would likely make a negotiated end to Iran’s nuclear program all but impossible and could lead the country to decide to pursue nuclear weapons quickly and covertly. James Acton, a director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote that “any hope for diplomacy has now vanished (which was NOT the case before the U.S. attack).”

Trump just attacked Iran. A few immediate reactions.

First off, as a U.S citizen, I’m simply appalled by Trump’s refusal to seek Congressional authorization in violation of law and the constitution. Just because it’s not surprising doesn’t make it any less dreadful. (1/n) https://t.co/cYhDkOLduQ

— (((James Acton))) (@james_acton32) June 22, 2025

Reaction to Saturday’s strikes on Capitol Hill largely followed party lines, with Republicans generally praising the strikes as necessary to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons and Democrats criticizing the administration for failing to come to Congress for authorization of military action.