Qatar says air defence systems intercepting missile attack over Doha

 Qatar's defence ministry said on Thursday its military was working to intercept an incoming missile attack as loud blasts reverberated across Doha and smoke was seen over the city.

"The Ministry of Defence of State of Qatar announces that State of Qatar has been subjected to a missile attack," it said in a statement. "Air Defence systems are intercepting the missile attack," it added. 

Multiple rounds of explosions echoed over the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday just hours after officials said they were evacuating residents living near the US embassy. 

Gulf countries have been targeted by repeated waves of Iranian drone and missile attacks in retaliation for the massive US-Israeli air campaign. 

AFP journalists on the ground in Doha described Thursday's blasts as some of the most intense since Iran began targeting the Gulf state on Saturday. A column of black smoke was seen on the Doha horizon. 

The targeting of Qatar on Thursday came hours after the country's prime minister lambasted Iran's foreign minister during a call, in the first high-level contact between the two countries since the Islamic republic launched its missile and drone campaign. 

Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani accused Iran of seeking to "harm its neighbours and drag them into a war that is not theirs", on the call with Iran's Abbas Araghchi, according to a statement by Qatar's foreign ministry. 

Explosions were also heard in Bahrain's capital Manama on Thursday. 

In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, officials said they had intercepted three cruise missiles and several drones. 

"Three cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed outside the city of Al-Kharj," the Saudi defence ministry posted on X. 

Elsewhere, a tanker was hit by a "large explosion" in waters off Kuwait, causing an oil spill, British maritime security agency UKMTO reported. 

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have said they had "complete control" of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial chokepoint connecting the Gulf to the Indian Ocean and one of the world's most vital shipping routes for energy.

 Agence France-Presse