© Agence France-Presse/HO/AL-ALAMAn image grab taken from Iran's state television Al-Alam on December 4, 2012, is said to show US drone that penetrated its airspace over Gulf waters.
The Islamic Republic announced Tuesday that it had captured a ScanEagle drone belonging to the United States, but Washington said there was no evidence to support the assertion.
"Its capture is not an issue the Americans can easily refute," Iran's Revolutionary Guards spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif was quoted as saying Wednesday.
"I advise the American commanders to recount their drones accurately," he said.
The incident has underscored tensions in the Gulf as Iran and the U.S. draw attention to their military capabilities in the vital oil exporting region in a standoff over Iran's nuclear program.
"We have fully extracted the drone's information," the Revolutionary Guard said in a statement Wednesday, according to Iran's English-language Press TV.
The drone was gathering military information and spying on the transfer of oil from Iran's petroleum terminals, the IRGC statement said, according to Press TV. Iran's main export terminal is at Kharg Island.
The U.S. government has focused on blocking Iran's oil exports through sanctions to persuade Iran to give up its disputed nuclear program, which the U.S. and its allies believe is aimed at developing a bomb, something Iran denies. Israeli officials have threatened to strike Iran's nuclear sites if sanctions and diplomacy fail to stop its program.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz - through which about 40 percent of the world's seaborne crude oil is shipped - if it comes under attack. U.S. commanders have said they will not let that happen.
The compact ScanEagle drone had been flying over the Gulf in the last few days and was captured when it strayed into Iranian airspace, the IRGC said in a statement Tuesday.
The U.S. military has been using Boeing Co ScanEagle spy planes since 2004 and they have become a relatively inexpensive way for the United States and others to conduct surveillance.
In November, the United States said Iranian warplanes shot at a U.S. surveillance drone flying in international airspace. Iran said the aircraft had entered its airspace to spy on Iranian oil platforms and said it would respond "decisively" to any incursions.
In December 2011, Tehran said it had captured a U.S. RQ-170 reconnaissance drone in eastern Iran which was reported lost by U.S. forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Iranian commanders have since announced they have extracted valuable technology from the aircraft and were in the process of reverse-engineering it for their own defense industry.
Source: Agencies
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