MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Today, Iran struck back, firing missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar. Qatar says its air defenses successfully intercepted those missiles, which targeted a base where thousands of U.S. troops are stationed. There are no reports of U.S. casualties. This, of course, comes in the wake of the U.S. directly inserting itself into Israel's war with Iran, bombing three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend. And here's a twist - President Trump has thanked Iran for giving the U.S. advance notice of the missile attacks today. I want to bring in two of the many NPR reporters tracking threads of this conflict. Aya Batrawy is on the ground for us in Dubai. Hey there, Aya.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Hi.
KELLY: Hi. And Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman is reporting here in Washington. Tom, I'm going to give you the first question. What more details do we have on these missile strikes by Iran?
TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Well, a defense official said more than 10 or so short- and medium-range missiles fired from Iran. All were shot down by air defenses, and again, no casualties. Qatar's foreign ministry denounced the attack they said came from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, calling it a flagrant violation of the country's sovereignty and airspace.
We do know that there was a shelter-in-place order before the attacks, and also, all U.S. bases in the region were placed on higher alert. Now, Iran claims it also fired a missile or missiles at a base in Iraq, but the Pentagon had no reports of that. Iraq has closed its airspace and also had no reports there of any missiles fired.
KELLY: Aya Batrawy, on the ground for us in the region, just situate us - this attack on Qatar. How significant is that? That is a Gulf Arab state. It is friendly with the U.S. Trump just visited last month.
BATRAWY: Yeah, we've never seen an attack targeting U.S. troops in Qatar before. You know, Qatar walks a really fine line in the Gulf. It does share the world's biggest underwater gas field with Iran. And a few years ago, if you recall when Arab neighbors did cut ties with Qatar - closed their ports, and Qatar's only border to it, Iran was one of the first countries that rushed to send over food and other vitals to Qatar. And so, yeah, Qatar was given an advanced notice, did that highly unusual step of closing its airspace for 2 hours before the attack and then was able to shoot down those missiles.
But, you know, also Qatar's leadership does have those close ties with Trump and his Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff. You know, Trump was just in the Gulf, as you mentioned, only last month, meeting with Gulf rulers. You know, he was also offered a Boeing aircraft to replace one of his older Air Force Ones by Qatar. But what this attack does is it really just draws in more countries to this conflict as a result of what began as Israel's attack on Iran 10 days ago. Countries across the region rushed to condemn, in very strongly worded statements, Iran's attack tonight and warned of this spiraling out of control.
KELLY: Spiraling out of control. Although, Tom Bowman, this is not entirely unexpected. It was just precisely this kind of retaliatory attack from Iran that U.S. officials were worried about after they joined the fight over the weekend.
BOWMAN: Absolutely. This is a main concern. There were some 40,000 U.S. personnel spread at bases all over the Middle East. And again, they are all on heightened alert because of the attacks from the U.S., as well as Israel during - more than a week or so. Now, at some of these locations, including the U.S. Naval base at Bahrain, military dependents left more than a week ago. And also, satellite photos have shown both U.S. aircraft and ships leaving so they wouldn't be sitting ducks.
Now, it's interesting to note, as Aya pointed out, that the attacks on Al Udeid were telegraphed by Iran to Qatar. So is this simply messaging? Basically, Iran had to respond and do something because of the attacks on the nuclear facilities, but this was a very limited strike. I was talking with one retired senior officer who said, listen, Iran had three choices - do nothing, go in with massive missile strikes or mount something limited, which is what we see here. But, Mary Louise, we're in the middle of this right now. Will this be it? Will more bases be attacked? We just don't know. It's too early.
KELLY: Yeah. So many questions still to answer. Among those questions, Aya, circle back to something you just said about the concern of drawing more countries into the conflict. Does it seem that the U.S. decision to bomb Iran may have widened the conflict, inadvertently drawn Gulf Arab states that would have been happy to sit on the sidelines, drawn them right into this?
BATRAWY: Yes, and this is exactly what they did not want to see happen. They do not want war or to be part of Israel's reshaping of the region of the Middle East. And, you know, when Qatar condemned that attack on Iran, it also said in that same statement, they've long been warning against Israel's escalations in the region, so clearly linking that with today's attack. I've also been speaking with people in the Gulf who say the leaders here see the utility of Israel, backed by the U.S., obviously degrading Iran's nuclear enrichment and its missile program. But this war directly threatens them now. They don't want to see regime change and chaos ensue in a country the size and scope of Iran. You know, the U.S. history in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel's ongoing war in Gaza and the humanitarian catastrophe there and the crisis there - these are not seen as successes in the Middle East.
Also, I'm here in Dubai. You know, this place relies on foreign investment, tourism, you know, booming real estate markets for its survival. We saw flights being canceled tonight through Dubai, the world's busiest for international transits, and suspension of air travel over not just Qatar, but also Bahrain and Kuwait.
KELLY: And, you know, what should we make of this Trump - from President Trump - this post from President Trump, just coming through on social media, thanking Iran, saying, thanks for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, nobody to be injured. Does the fact that Iran gave advanced messaging perhaps signal an attack to - an attempt to strike back, preserve dignity, but not ratchet things up further?
BATRAWY: Yeah, so Trump says he hopes that, you know, Iran, quote, "gets this out of their system" (ph) now. You know, the thing is, this was measured by all degrees. This was a measured response. You know, I spoke with Badriyyah Alsabah (ph), a Kuwaiti academic and professor, just after Iran's attack towards this expansive airbase in Qatar, and he called this a face-saving measure by Iran. Have a listen.
BADRIYYAH ALSABAH: My preference is not to have the Gulf in the middle of it all, but I think they had - their choices were limited. And going after infrastructure, as opposed to humans, as opposed to civilians' hotspots, as opposed to closing Hormuz - right? - I think that's the least damaging - very damaging still, but among the suite of options that they have, it's the least damaging.
BATRAWY: Yeah, so what he's saying here is that this attack is damaging to Gulf relations with Iran, but it did not produce casualties, and Iran didn't pull the trigger of trying to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, which is that narrow waterway between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, where a fifth of the world's oil and gas passes through. And he notes the U.S. attack, while unprecedented and also severe on Iran, was very targeted. So he says, look, this could end here, but, also, the risk of miscalculation and this expanding is still very high. The region is really on edge.
KELLY: Tom Bowman, pick up on that. How worried is the U.S. about Iran attempting to close the strait?
BOWMAN: Oh, there's great concern about that. Some 20% of the world's oil moves through the strait into the Arabian Sea. You could see Iran attack oil tankers, maybe try mining the strait. But at this point, Mary Louise, it's mostly talk.
KELLY: That's NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman and NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Thanks to you both.
BOWMAN: You're welcome.
BATRAWY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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