Qatari Emiri Air Force fighter jets shot down two Iranian bombers that were minutes away from striking targets in Qatar, including the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, according to officials cited by CNN.
On Monday morning, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent two Soviet-era Su-24 tactical bombers toward Al-Udeid Air Base, which typically hosts about 10,000 U.S. service members, as well as Ras Laffan, a natural-gas processing facility central to Qatar’s economy.
The aircraft were “two minutes” from their targets when Qatari forces intercepted them, according to sources briefed on the operation. The planes were reportedly flying at an altitude of about 80 feet to evade radar and were visually identified carrying bombs and guided munitions.
Qatar issued a radio warning but received no response. With limited time and available intelligence indicating a hostile threat, Qatari forces scrambled fighter jets. A Qatari F-15 engaged the Iranian aircraft in aerial combat and shot them down, the sources said. The planes crashed into Qatari territorial waters, CNN reported.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday that search operations are underway for the crews of the downed aircraft.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed the incident during a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday, saying Qatari fighters “for the first time have shot down two Iranian bombers en route to their location,” without specifying the intended target.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a phone call on Wednesday that the incident was “escalatory” and showed Tehran had “no genuine desire” to de-escalate tensions, according to a Qatari readout of the call.
Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones toward Gulf states in recent days in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes on the country. Regional governments say more than 400 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones have been fired since the attacks began, CNN reported.
Most have been intercepted, but six U.S. service members were killed on Sunday when an Iranian drone struck a tactical operations center at Kuwait’s Shuaiba port after evading air defenses. No alarms sounded before the attack.
