US Confirms No Casualties in Iranian Retaliatory Strikes in Qatar
The United States has confirmed that no one was injured or killed in the Iranian retaliatory strikes on a US military base in Qatar, according to a US Defense Department official in Washington on Monday. The White House also stated that US President Donald Trump has no intention of ordering further military actions in the region.
The Iranian strikes, which targeted the Al Udeid Air Base, were a response to the US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend. Herfried Münkler, a political scientist, believes that the US President was under pressure before the attack on the nuclear facilities. Trump had made many bold statements, relying on the effectiveness of his threats, including those against Iran, Münkler told the Rheinische Post on Tuesday.
“As the situation did not unfold as he had expected and the Iranian leadership was increasingly ignoring him, he was under pressure and ended up aligning himself with the Israeli military’s actions” Münkler said. “Analytically, Trump acted in the shadow of Netanyahu.” Despite this, the US remains a powerful actor and its military intervention has fundamentally changed the dynamics in the Middle East. “The direction of this change will be determined by Iran’s reaction and that is something we will have to wait and see” Münkler added.