Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed Thursday they shot down a US drone in the southern province of Hormozgan.
State news agency IRNA quoted the Guard's news website, Sepah News, as saying that the Islamic country's military force targeted the RQ-4 Global Hawk drone when it entered Iran's airspace "near the Kouhmobarak district in the south."
General Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, said the incident sent "a clear message" to the US, adding that Iran does "not have any intention for war with any country, but we are ready for war."
Responding swiftly to the Iranian claim, the US military said it had not violated Iranian airspace on Wednesday.
Comment: Further updates from
RT:
A US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement acknowledged that one of its naval surveillance UAV's was indeed hit on Wednesday night. Tehran said that the device had been spying over southern Iran at the time of the interception, but CENTCOM said this was "false."
[...]
Earlier, the head of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the Iranian action had sent a "clear message" to Washington about its military posturing in the region. Iran also warned the US against crossing "a red line" and vowed to take all necessary steps to protect the country.
According to the IRGC, the drone was flying with its tracking equipment switched off at the time, violating international aviation regulations.
"The drone took off from a US base in the southern Persian Gulf," according to a statement by the elite unit. While in the air, the US allegedly attempted to make the drone appear invisible to radar.
It had turned off all its identifying equipment in violation of aviation rules and was moving in full secrecy.
Earlier, Tehran said its air defenses had shot down a US RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drone overnight, after it illegally entered Iranian airspace over southern Iran.
Trump's response is lame. And John Bolton is
on his way to Israel to learn what he should do next:
Amid disputes over the authenticity of reports that Iran shot down a US drone, US President Donald Trump tweeted early Thursday with a clear message: "Iran made a very big mistake!"
Washington claims that the surveillance drone was in international airspace at the time that it was brought down, while Tehran says it was spying on southern Iran.
An unnamed US official told Reuters that the debris field from the US military drone was located in the international waters area of the Strait of Hormuz. They also confirmed that US Navy vessels are en route to investigate.
"US drone intrusion into Iranian airspace is in clear violation of the UN Charter and national sovereignty of the country," Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, said Thursday, while urging his government to file a formal complaint with the UN.
Falahatpisheh accused the US of breaching Chapter seven of the UN Charter and that its drone operations constituted a hostile move against the national security and sovereignty of Iran.
US President Donald Trump has not ruled out an air strike against Iran in retaliation for the shooting down of a US Navy drone. The US military insists the drone was over international waters, but Iran says this is false.
Asked if the US was considering a retaliatory strike, Trump told reporters at the White House, "You'll soon find out."
"I have a feeling... that it was a mistake made by somebody who shouldn't have been doing what they did," Trump said about the incident, speaking after a meeting with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
"I find it hard to believe that it was intentional," he added. "It could have been somebody who was loose and stupid."
John Bolton, Trump's hawkish national security adviser who has pushed for a hard-line policy on Iran, is on his way to Israel to discuss "regional security" with US allies in the Middle East, the White House said.
John Bolton, Trump's hawkish national security adviser who has pushed for a hard-line policy on Iran, is on his way to Israel to discuss "regional security" with US allies in the Middle East, the White House said.
Trump denied that members of his administration were pushing him towards war, saying that he wanted to end "endless wars" like Afghanistan and not get into new ones, just like he said during the 2016 campaign - but Iran shooting down the US drone is "a new wrinkle... a new fly in the ointment."
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has accused the US of waging "economic terrorism" and covert action against his country, and now encroaching on its territory.
"We don't seek war, but will zealously defend our skies, land & waters."
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been rising for the past several months, with the US sending additional troops to the region and blaming Tehran for attacks on several oil tankers in international waters. Iran has rejected the accusations.
Video footage of the shoot-down published by the Iranian military:
Trump has
climbed down from months of fighting talk in the most ridiculous way possible:
"It's hard to believe it was intentional, if you want to know the truth," he added. He suggested it could have been carried out by someone who was acting "loose and stupid" and characterized the incident as "a new wrinkle...a new fly in the ointment."
Major-General Hossein Salami of the IRGC called this Iran's "
clear message" to the U.S. of their readiness to react to any aggression on the part of the Americans:
"The downing of the American drone was a clear message for [the United States of America] ... our borders are the red line of Iran and we will react strongly against any aggression," Fars news agency quotes Salami as saying.
At the same time, Salami said his country "is not seeking war" against other nations, but is ready to defend itself.
The Pentagon released its version of the flight path, claiming the drone never entered Iranian airspace:
It differs from the Iranian version only near the end of the
flight path:
In the US photo, the drone retraced its easterly flight on a return trip, but in the Iranian version, the drone cuts much closer to the Iranian coast over the Gulf of Oman, during which time it would have been in Iranian territory.
Iran's ambassador to the UN sent it a letter
restating that the drone conducted its flight "in full stealth mode as it had turned off its identification equipment and engaged in a clear spying operation."
"When the [US] aircraft was returning towards the western parts of the region near the Strait of Hormuz, despite repeated radio warnings, it entered into the Iranian airspace where the air defense system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, acting under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, targeted the intruding aircraft at 04:05 hours local time on the same date at the coordinates N255943 and E570225 near the Kouh-e Mobarak region in the central district of Jask in the Islamic Republic of Iran", Ravanchi said in the letter.
"The international community is called upon to demand the United States to put an end to its continued unlawful and destabilizing measures in the already volatile region of the Persian Gulf", Ravanchi stressed.
"This is not the first provocative act by the United States against Iran's territorial integrity. It is reminded that in all such cases, the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially protested to the U.S. through its interests section in the Embassy of Switzerland in Tehran", the ambassador said.
Several ranking US senators are
calling for a 'response':
"Iran directly attacked a United States asset over international waters. This provocation comes a week after they attacked and destroyed two commercial tankers in international waters. There must be a measured response to these actions", McCarthy and Representatives Michael McCaul, Mac Thornberry and Devin Nunes said in a joint statement.
This tweet sums it all up beautifully:
Updates 21 June
In reaction to the drone being shot down, the FAA has
prohibited all American operators from flying over Iranian airspace - the suggestion being Iran could shoot down an airliner next.
US media is reporting today that the Pentagon 'almost' retaliated against Iran with airstrikes, but that
Trump cancelled authorization at the last-minute when he learned Iranian casualties would like number around 150 people. That makes him look merciful, but it's more likely that they could not be sure Iran wouldn't escalate the situation further. Iran is NOT Syria...
Meanwhile, Iran's deputy foreign minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi
said in a phone call with the Swiss envoy, Markus Leitner, whose country represents the US interests in the Islamic Republic, that "there [is] indisputable evidence about the presence of this drone in Iran's airspace." In the phone call, Araqchi also urged Washington to respect Iran's borders, both aerial and maritime, telling Leitner "the Islamic Republic of Iran would not hesitate for a moment to decisively defend its territory against any aggression."
The commander of the Iranian Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Hajizadeh, claims that the downing of a US drone was a warning to an American military aircraft that was flying alongside its UAV and that Iran refrained from targeting the American plane with 35 on board.
On Friday afternoon, the Iranian military showcased the
wreckage of the US drone:
Also, Iran has
denied the US
claim that they sent 'fair warning' ahead of 'nearly' bombing that country in retaliation...
See also:
Comment: Bored? Or Trump recognizing that he was misled by the neocon advisors who told him the Venezuela debacle would be a good idea. No matter. Bolton, Pompeo et al. have given him a new headache with the drone shootdown in Iran.They are determined to get themselves a war, and don't seem to be particular about its location. The neocons have many hotspots they could activate.