Dubai: Qatari fighter jets shot down two Iranian bombers that were minutes away from striking a major US military base and a key energy facility in Qatar, marking the first reported air-to-air combat involving the Gulf state’s air force during the expanding regional war.
Two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 tactical bombers were dispatched by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard early Monday toward Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military installation in the Middle East, and the nearby Ras Laffan Industrial City, according to two sources briefed on the operation who spoke to CNN.
The aircraft were “two minutes” away from their intended targets when Qatari fighter jets intercepted them, one of the sources said.
The planes were visually identified and photographed carrying bombs and guided munitions, another source told CNN. The bombers reportedly descended to an altitude of around 80 feet in an apparent attempt to evade radar detection.
Qatar’s air force issued radio warnings to the aircraft but received no response, the source said.
Due to “time constraints” and the available intelligence, the aircraft were classified as hostile. Qatar then scrambled its fighter jets, and a Qatari F-15 fighter jet engaged the Iranian bombers in aerial combat before shooting them down.
The Iranian aircraft crashed into Qatari territorial waters.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said search operations were underway for the pilots.
Rare escalation in the Gulf
The incident marks a significant escalation in the widening war involving Iran, the United States and Israel.
Iran has largely relied on ballistic missiles and drones in its retaliation following US-Israeli strikes inside Iran that reportedly killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
But the attempted strike over Qatar represents the first time Iran is reported to have deployed manned combat aircraft against a neighbouring Gulf state since the latest conflict began.
It is also the first known air-to-air combat engagement for the Qatar Emiri Air Force.
US officials confirmed the incident without providing full details of the Iranian aircraft’s target.
“Qatari fighters for the first time have shot down two Iranian bombers on route to their location,” said Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday.
Tensions spreading across the Gulf
The incident highlights growing fears that the war could draw Gulf states directly into the conflict.
In a call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani described the attempted strike as “escalatory” and evidence that Tehran had little interest in reducing tensions.
“Rather, it seeks to inflict harm on its neighbours and drag them into a war that is not theirs,” the Qatari official said, according to a government readout of the call.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Gulf states since the war erupted following the US-Israeli strikes.
Regional governments say more than 400 ballistic missiles and over 1,000 drones have been launched across the Gulf region targeting military bases, energy facilities and civilian infrastructure.
While most have been intercepted by air defence systems, several attacks have caused casualties.
Six US service members were killed on Sunday when an Iranian projectile penetrated air defences and struck a temporary operations centre at Shuaiba Port in Kuwait.
The attempted bomber strike over Qatar underscores how the conflict is evolving from missile exchanges into direct aerial confrontations — raising the risk that more countries could be pulled deeper into the war.
