Iran shoots down American spy drone, accusing the US of violating its airspace

Tabnak – In line with the recent tensions between Iran and the US, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has shot down an American drone over Iran’s southern borders. Although the Washington claims the drone had been flying over the international waters, Tehran accuses the US of violating its airspace.

According to the reports earlier on Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has shot down an intruding American spy drone in the country’s southern coastal province of Hormozgan.

In a statement, the IRGC said the US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region — which sits in the central district of Jask County — after the aircraft violated Iranian airspace.

According to the statement, the Global Hawk had flown from one of the American bases in the southern parts of the Persian Gulf region at 00:14 a.m. local time, with its identification transponders off in breach of all international aviation rules.

It also went on to say that the drone had stealthily continued on the route from the Strait of Hormuz towards Iran’s port city of Chabahar. While returning towards west of the Strait of Hormuz, the drone violated Iran’s territorial airspace and began gathering intelligence and spying, the statement said.

The drone had been targeted and shot down by the IRGC at 04: 05 a.m. local time, it added.

An informed IRGC source in Hormozgan province said the drone had been targeted near the Kouh-e Mobarak region and fell down in the area of Ras al-Shir in Iran’s territorial waters. He told the IRNA news agency that the downing came after repeated violations of Iran’s airspace by US reconnaissance drones in the Persian Gulf region.

Reacting to the news, the US military claimed it did not fly over Iranian airspace on Wednesday. “No US aircraft were operating in Iranian airspace today,” said Navy Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for the American military’s Central Command.

However, a US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, confirmed on Thursday that an American military drone had been shot down in “international airspace” over the Strait of Hormuz by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

Meanwhile, Iranian foreign ministry sharply condemned the United States for violating the country’s airspace by a spy drone, warning that the aggressors bear the responsibility for repercussions of such “provocative” moves.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Thursday reacted to the shooting down of a US surveillance drone flying over Iran’s southern skies, voicing the country’s “strong protest to such aggressive and provocative measures.”

Tehran strongly warns against any “illegal and aggressive” violation of Iranian airspace and territory by any foreign intruder, he added, stressing that all the responsibility for such moves lies on the aggressors.

Tensions have been running between Iran and the US in recent weeks, with Washington stepping up its provocative military moves in the Middle East.

Last month, Washington dispatched an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber task force, and an amphibious assault ship to the Persian Gulf, citing an alleged Iranian threat.