Tehran Attacks U.S. Bases While Iranian Leadership Meets with Putin in Moscow
Iran launched a direct strike on U.S. military targets in the Middle East on Monday, firing missiles at American bases in Qatar just hours after its top diplomat met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The attack marks a dangerous escalation in the ongoing confrontation between Iran, the United States, and Israel—and raises urgent questions about Tehran’s growing alignment with Moscow.
The strikes targeted the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which houses thousands of U.S. military personnel and serves as a key hub for American operations in the region. Multiple missiles were intercepted, but at least some reached their intended vicinity, triggering explosions that were widely reported across Doha. Qatar closed its airspace in response and issued civilian shelter-in-place orders. There were no immediate reports of American casualties, but the Pentagon confirmed it was assessing damage and monitoring the situation.
The missile launches came in apparent retaliation for recent U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, which targeted key sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan over the weekend. Those strikes, carried out in coordination with Israel following Tehran’s latest threats against Israeli cities, marked the first direct U.S. military engagement on Iranian soil since the Trump administration returned to office.
What made Monday’s attack particularly notable was its timing. Just hours before the missiles were launched, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was photographed in Moscow handing Russian President Vladimir Putin a personal letter from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a high-level meeting in Moscow.
While the Kremlin framed the talks as part of efforts to “stabilize the region,” Moscow notably refrained from condemning Iran’s missile strikes. Instead, Putin criticized the United States, calling its retaliatory attacks on Iranian targets unjustified and dangerously escalatory.
“The absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran has no basis and no justification. For our part, we are making efforts to assist the Iranian people.”
Putin’s decision to host Tehran’s leadership on the same day as a direct Iranian attack on U.S. troops will likely reinforce Western concerns about a de facto alliance forming between Russia and Iran. Both countries are facing heavy sanctions, international isolation, and active military conflicts—Russia in Ukraine, and Iran through its network of regional proxies and open hostilities with Israel.
U.S. officials have not publicly linked the Moscow meeting to the missile strike, but the coincidence is difficult to ignore. Privately, several administration officials have expressed concern that Russia may be encouraging Iran to widen the conflict in order to divide and distract the West from Ukraine.
The White House condemned the attack but stopped short of announcing retaliatory action, saying it would await full intelligence assessments before responding. President Trump, however, said in a social media post that
“any harm to American personnel will be met with overwhelming force.”
Monday’s events appear to confirm what many analysts have feared: that Iran is no longer operating within the bounds of proxy warfare, but is now willing to strike U.S. targets directly—and is doing so while openly engaging with Russia’s leadership. The overlap between missile launches and diplomatic handshakes has cast a long shadow over the already volatile Middle East.
The world is now watching to see how Washington responds—and whether the axis forming between Moscow and Tehran will grow bolder in the days ahead.
