US denies Tehran’s drone capture claim

IRAN’S claim yesterday that it had captured a United States intelligence drone in its airspace over the Persian Gulf has been denied by the US military.

The incident highlighted tensions in the Gulf as the Islamic republic and the US demonstrate their military capabilities in a standoff over Iran’s disputed nuclear programme.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on its website that the ScanEagle drone had been flying over the Gulf in the last few days and was “captured” when it strayed into Iranian airspace.

A spokesman for US Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain said no US drone had gone missing in the region.

“The US Navy has fully ac- counted for all unmanned air vehicles operating in the Middle East region. Our operations in the Gulf are confined to internationally recognised water and air space,” Commander Jason Salata said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran had warned the US over its violations and the drone was evidence of American incursions which it would use to pursue its complaint “via international bodies”.

The IRGC statement did not specify when or where the drone was caught, or whether the spy plane was shot down or crashed. But it released what it said was a video of an apparently undamaged ScanEagle being examined by uniformed officers beneath a sign reading “We shall trample on the US”.

The incident is the latest in a string of complaints by Iran over what it says are US violations of its territory. – Reuters