Baghdad:
A video purportedly exhibiting a US F-15 fighter jet chasing what looks like Iranian Shahed drones over Iraqi skies has gone viral on social media. The footage, shared by a number of Iran-backed channels, confirmed the chase, adopted by a big floor explosion and smoke plume.
The accounts sharing the video on X claimed the $1 million American F-15 plane “failed to intercept” at the least two “cheap” $20,000 Iranian Shahed-136 drones, indicating a serious escalation within the regional battle.
The video is reportedly from an Iranian strike on a British engine oil firm in Iraq’s Erbil, which triggered a large hearth. So far, the United States or any of its allies has not confirmed the incident.
United States $80M fighter jet vs Iran’s low-cost drone—and the drone nonetheless wins.
Iranian Shahed evades US F-15 over Iraq, strikes close to Castrol facility in Erbil.
Airpower dominance is collapsing into asymmetry. pic.twitter.com/uGbQxH5bOJ— Commentary IRGC (@IRGCIntel) April 2, 2026
Attack On Erbil
A collection of drone strikes focused a British-owned motor oil facility in Iraq’s Kurdistan area on Wednesday, igniting a large hearth that despatched plumes of black smoke over the town of Erbil. The facility, a Castrol oil plant operated by the Sardar Group, was reportedly struck by three separate drones all through the morning.
The assaults observe a warning from Iran’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Seyed Ali Mousavi, who said that Tehran is evaluating whether or not to launch strikes in opposition to British army bases.
Iran War News
Iraq has lengthy walked a tightrope between the competing pursuits of the United States and its neighbour Iran, however the Middle East warfare is testing this delicate balancing act. Since the outbreak of warfare on February 28, after US-Israeli strikes in opposition to Iran, strikes have focused each US pursuits and pro-Iranian teams in Iraq.
Earlier this week, Iraq granted former paramilitary teams and pro-Iran factions throughout the formal standard mobilisation forces the “right to respond in self-defence” to assaults. But it additionally promised to prosecute teams concentrating on US pursuits.
Bases internet hosting the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF), a part of the common military however containing some pro-Iran factions, have been focused by air strikes. The PMF has blamed these on the United States and Israel. Some Iraqi pro-Iran factions, which have a presence throughout the PMF, have additionally claimed every day assaults on US-linked bases and pursuits in Iraq and throughout the area.
Meanwhile, Iran has carried out strikes in opposition to Kurdish opposition teams in autonomous northern Iraqi Kurdistan.
