
2 min readUpdated: Mar 6, 2026 11:04 AM IST
In its first ever aerial combat mission, the Qatari F-15 swung and took down two Iranian bombers, which were just two minutes away from attacking the largest US military base in the Middle East, CNN reported.
The target of the Iranian bombers was the al-Udeid Air Base, that hosts over 10,000 US service members, and Ras Laffan, an important natural gas processing plant.
Here’s how the event unfolded
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had sent two tactical bombers, the Soviet-made SU-24, towards the al-Udeid Air Base Monday morning. The Iranian jets were just minutes away from their targets when a Qatari F-15 fighter jet shot down the Iranian jets.
The jets were carrying “bombs and guided munitions,” a source familiar with the incident told CNN.
The Iranian jets had switched to flying altitude to evade detection by the radar system. The jets, however, were classified as hostile aircraft due to time constraints, and the Qatari F-15 fighter jets went into “aerial combat” with the Iranian jets, shooting them down into Qatar’s territorial waters.
A search is underway for the crews.
‘No genuine desire’ to deescalate: Qatari Prime Minister
Qatar’s Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday, describing the event as an “escalatory” one. He said that the actions of Iran show that they have “no genuine desire” to de-escalate or resolve the issue.
“Rather, it seeks to inflict harm on its neighbors and drag them into a war that is not theirs,” Al Thani said, according to a readout of the call.
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Iran’s attack on Middle East
Iran’s strikes to the Middle East comes after a joint operation by US and Israel launched an attack on Iran and killed the country’s supreme leader Ayotollah Ali Khamenei. Since then, Iran has pledged to strike all US and Israeli bases across the Middle East.
According to regional governments, the Iranian regime has launched more than 400 ballistic missiles and over 1,000 drones at Gulf nations following the US–Israeli strike.
(With inputs from CNN)
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