Iranian bombers came within minutes of striking the largest military base housing US troops in the Middle East before Qatari planes shot them down, two sources briefed on the operation told CNN.
On Monday morning, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard dispatched two Soviet-era Su-24 tactical bombers toward al-Udeid Air Base, which typically houses 10,000 US service members, and Ras Laffan, a key natural gas processing facility and a bedrock of the Qatari economy.
The Iranian jets were “two minutes” away from their targets, one of the sources said. A second source told CNN that the planes were visually identified and photographed “carrying bombs and guided munitions.”
The Qataris…