Iran President issued chilling 'invasion' warning right before US airbase bombed in Qatar

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a chilling statement on X shortly before a US airbase was bombed in Qatar.

Iran launched missile attacks Monday on a US military bases in Qatar and Iraq, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites and escalating tensions in the volatile region.

Just before the explosions, President Pezeshkian wrote on X: "We neither initiated the war nor seeking it. But we will not leave invasion to the great Iran without answer."

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People in Doha, Qatar's capital, stopped and looked up as missiles flew and interceptors fired and struck at least one missile in the night sky.

Iran announced on state television that it attacked American forces stationed at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base. A caption on screen called it "a mighty and successful response" to "America's aggression" as martial music played.

Iran also targeted the Ain al-Assad base housing US troops in western Iraq, an Iraqi security official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The attacks came shortly after Qatar closed its airspace as a precaution amid threats from Iran.

In the past, Iran has threatened American forces at Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. military's Central Command. Qatar, across the Persian Gulf from Iran, maintains diplomatic relations with Iran and shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Tehran.

Earlier in the day, Israel expanded its war against Iran to include targets associated with the country's struggling theocracy, striking the gate of a Tehran prison notorious for holding political activists and hitting the headquarters of the military force that suppressed recent protests.

As plumes of thick smoke rose over Tehran, Israel was attacked with yet another barrage of Iranian missiles and drones. The persistent fire has become a reality for civilians in both countries since Israel started the war to target Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.

The latest strikes unfolded only hours after President Donald Trump openly raised the possibility himself after just a day earlier inserting America into the war with its unprecedented stealth-bomber strike on three Iranian nuclear sites.

"If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change???" he asked on his Truth Social website.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later described Trump as "simply raising a question". However, suggestions of overthrowing the Iranian government drew new anger from Tehran, which insists it will not negotiate at this time and is threatening to retaliate directly against either American troops or interests in a Mideast already inflamed by the still-raging Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

With the strikes Sunday on Iranian nuclear sites, the United States inserted itself into Israel's war, prompting fears of a wider regional conflict. Iran said the US had crossed "a very big red line" with its risky gambit to strike the three sites with missiles and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.