Explosions heard in UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as Iran launches strikes on US military bases

Massive explosions were reported from the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar as Iran launched counterstrikes after the Israel-US joint strikes in Tehran, Arabic media reported.

Bahrain said that the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet was targeted by a missile attack. Explosions were also heard in Manama in Bahrain. The attacks were deemed "treacherous" and a "blatant violation of the kingdom’s sovereignty and security”.

Blasts were also heard in Doha in Qatar. Qatar’s Defence Ministry had said earlier that one Iranian missile was intercepted by the patriot defence system.

Iran’s Fars News Agency confirmed the missile attacks on the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait, Al-Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, and the fifth US base in Bahrain.

At least one person was killed in the strike in Abu Dhabi after the UAE intercepted several Iranian missiles. The UAE called the attack a "flagrant violation of national sovereignty and international law” and said that "it reserves its full right to respond to this escalation”.

The strikes have come after Iran announced that all US and Israeli assets and interests in the Middle East have become legitimate targets.

Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE have all closed their airspaces.

An explosion was also heard from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, AFP reported. Saudi Arabia condemned the attacks on the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait. It warned of  “dire consequence” over the continued violation of “state sovereignty and the principles of international law”.

Jordan's military had reported that it downed two ballistic missiles earlier.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed that all Israeli and US military targets in the Middle East have been struck “by the powerful blows of Iranian missiles”. “This operation will continue relentlessly until the enemy is decisively defeated,” it said.

Iran’s foreign ministry had issued a statement shortly after Israel and the US’s joint attack in Tehran.

“The renewed military aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime against Iran constitutes a violation of international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter. The Islamic Republic of Iran considers this aggression a clear breach of international peace and security and emphasises that it reserves its legitimate right to respond decisively,” the ministry said.

The US has about 19 military sites throughout West Asia, stationing about 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers.

The Israeli army, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that it was “conducting a broad strike on a number of military targets belonging to the Iranian regime in western Iran.”