“We knew they’d retaliate. They had a similar response after Soleimani,” the official said, referring to Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian commander killed in a US airstrike in 2020.

The official said initial assessments were that the missiles fired by the Iranians on Monday didn’t hit their intended targets. Qatar’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted an Iranian missile attack on the US air base in the country.