Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Alistair Bunkall: Middle East Correspondent on Iran's attack on the US base in Qatar

Transcript

Alistair Bunkall: Middle East Correspondent on Iran's attack on the US base in Qatar · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We've been waiting for Iran to respond, while they've done.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: In the last hour, they have attacked you with spaces
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: in Iraq and Katar. So far, no injuries or deaths
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: or casualties have been reported that according to the Pentagon
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: via Fox News in the last couple of minutes. Alistair
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Buncle is the Middle East correspondent from Sky News with
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: US this morning. Alistair, what is the latest on these attacks?
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, the only confirmed attack is the one
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: on Kata, on the Alu Ded Air Base, which is
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: the biggest American air base in the region. The Iranians
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: reportedly fired ten missiles, saying they are saying fired a
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: missile for every missile that the Americans fired at them
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: when the Americans attacked the nuclear bases over the weekend.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure that figure exactly tallies, but we haven't
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: heard more reports from Iraq at the moment. On the
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: one hand, it is a major major escalation. Iran attacking
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: a GCC country in the Middle East, a country like
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Katar is a huge escalation. But we knew the Arenas
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: would have to respond in some way. This is well start,
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: possibly the end of their response, and no reports of casualties,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: so possibly, you know, it does provide everybody with a
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: bit of an off ramp. But then it depends on
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: the way President Trump sees it.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Does the fact that there are no casualties indicate that
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the Americans, because they had been warning their own citizens
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: and Kata for a couple of days, and we heard
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: from the UK in the last couple of hours that
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: these citizens should be aware in Kata, is it possible
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: that they did give them a well, that they were
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: no one about and that you know, that's why we
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: didn't see any casualties.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I reckon so, to be honest, we don't know
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: that officially, but I think that's probably very likely. The
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Ataris are pretty close to the Uranians. Katar hosts the
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: leadership of Hummas, for example, an Iranian proxy, but they're
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: also closely the Americans. They host major US military bases.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: And my sense from covering these things for many years
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: is that this would have been known about. There would
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: have been a maybe not more than a few hours,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: but there would have been some notification that this was happening,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: and it would have allowed everybody to ensure that there
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: were no US forces above ground. They were either not
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: at the base or they were underground in safety. Ditto
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: to the British. The British have a very large military
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: personnel at that air base. I understand that they had
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: evacuated it in the recent days and so if that's accurate,
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: then what it does is it gives run the kind
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: of the story to say, look, we have attacked the
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: biggest US in the region, and it gives the Americans
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: the ability to sort of back away having suffered no damage.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Alistair appreciate that analysis. This morning, Alistair Bunkle, who's the
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Middle East correspondent for Sky News, confirming there that there
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: have been a missiles fired from Iran into a US
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: air base in Katar, though apparently intercepted. No injuries or
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: casualties reported at this stage. Iran has said that they
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: have fired missiles not just at US air bases and Kata,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: but also in Iraq, as Alistair says that hasn't been confirmed.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Listen live to news Talks there'd be from five am weekdays,
• 3:42
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