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Qatar’s Defense Ministry also says seven ballistic missiles and five drones fired by Iran were intercepted.
Qatar’s air force has “successfully shot down” two Iranian fighter jets, the country’s government says, as fallout from US and Israeli attacks on Iran, and Iranian retaliation, grows across the Middle East.
Qatar’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the air force shot down two SU-24 aircraft, while seven ballistic missiles and five drones fired by Iran were also intercepted.
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“The threat was addressed immediately upon detection, in accordance with the operational plan, as all missiles were shot down before reaching their targets,” the ministry said.
The Gulf country had condemned Iran for its “reckless and irresponsible” attacks on Qatari territory in response to US and Israeli strikes that have killed hundreds of people across Iran since Saturday.
Iran has launched a series of retaliatory attacks against targets in Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries in recent days.
Reporting from Doha, the capital of Qatar, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said the downing of the Iranian plane marks “a major military escalation.”
“This represents perhaps the beginning of an air-to-air combat, and is a serious escalation in a conflict that has already been spiraling for three days,” Basravi said.
Iran did not immediately comment on the Qatari Defense Ministry’s statement on Monday.
A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry recently said the country has the right to defend itself “with all its strength” in response to the US and Israeli attacks, which have killed several senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told Al Jazeera in an interview on Saturday that the Iranian armed forces were “defending the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran against these barbaric acts of aggression.”
But Iranian attacks on American and Israeli targets across the Middle East have drawn condemnation while also raising concerns about a widening conflict.
In a joint statement on Sunday, several countries in the region, as well as the United States, condemned what they described as Iran’s “indiscriminate and reckless missile and drone attacks against sovereign territories throughout the region.”
“These unjustified attacks targeted sovereign territory, endangered civilian populations, and damaged civilian infrastructure,” the countries said, adding that they were reaffirming their “right to self-defense against these attacks.”
Attacks on energy infrastructure
The Iranian attacks have also affected energy production in the Gulf region, with Qatar’s state energy company announcing on Monday a halt to liquefied natural gas (LNG) production due to the attacks.
The shutdown caused Dutch and British wholesale gas benchmark prices to soar almost 50 percent, while Asian LNG benchmark prices rose nearly 39 percent.
Separately, the Saudi Ministry of Defense said that two drones had “attempted to attack” the Ras Tanura refinery on Monday morning and that a “small” fire had broken out after being intercepted, according to the Saudi state press agency (SPA).
Images verified by Al Jazeera showed plumes of smoke rising from the oil facility, located on Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast.
Hassan Ahmadian, an assistant professor at the University of Tehran, said the attacks on energy infrastructure are part of the country’s effort to attack “US interests in the region.”
The attacks are aimed at “increasing pressure to force the United States to rethink its aggression against the country by increasing global oil and energy prices,” Ahmadian told Al Jazeera.
