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Scan Eagle drone

Iran claims capture of another US drone

One year after shooting down RQ-170 drone, Revolutionary Guard claims intercepted Scan Eagle aircraft over Persian Gulf

Iran's state TV said Tuesday that the country's Revolutionary Guard has captured a US drone after it entered Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf.

 

The report quoted the Guard's navy chief, Gen. Ali Fadavi, as saying that the Iranian forces caught the "intruding" drone, which had apparently taken off from a US aircraft carrier.

 

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Fadavi said the unmanned Scan Eagle aircraft was now in Iran's possession.

 

"The US drone, which was conducting a reconnaissance flight and gathering data over the Persian Gulf in the past few days, was captured by the Guard's navy air defense unit as soon as it entered Iranian airspace," Fadavi said. "Such drones usually take off from large warships."

 

He didn't provide any further details nor said when the incident happened. There was no immediate comment from the US Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain.

 

A US Navy spokesman said in response no American drones are missing in the Middle East.

 

Cmdr. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the US Navy's 5th Fleet, says all US drones in the region are "fully accounted for." He also cast doubt on Iranian claims Tuesday that the US ScanEagle drone entered Iranian airspace, saying US operations in the Persian Gulf are "confined to internationally recognized water and airspace."

 

He says that US ScanEagles have been lost into the sea in the past, but none have gone down recently.

 

But Al-Alam, the state TV's Arabic-language channel, showed two Guard commanders examining what appeared to be an intact Scan Eagle drone. It was not immediately clear if that was the same drone Iran claimed to have captured.


מל"ט זעיר מסוג Scan Eagle

Scan Eagle drone

 

In the footage, the two men then point to a huge map of the Persian Gulf in the background, showing the drone's alleged path of entry into Iranian airspace.

 

"We shall trample on the US," was printed over the map, next to the Guard's coat-of-arms.

 

If true, the seizure of the drone would be the third reported incident involving Iran and US drones in the past two years.

 

Last month, Iran claimed that a US drone had violated its airspace. Pentagon said the unmanned aircraft came under fire - at least twice but was not hit - and that the Predator was over international waters.

 

The Nov. 1 shooting in the Gulf was unprecedented, and further escalated tensions between the United States and Iran, which is under international sanctions over its suspect nuclear program. Tehran denies it's pursuing a nuclear weapon and insists its program is for peaceful purposes only.

 

In 2011, Iran claimed it brought down a CIA spy drone after it entered Iranian airspace from its eastern borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. The RQ-170 Sentinel drone, which is equipped with stealth technology, was captured almost intact. Tehran later said it recovered data from the top-secret drone.

 

In the case of the Sentinel, after initially saying only that a drone had been lost near the Afghan-Iran border, American officials eventually confirmed it had been monitoring Iran's military and nuclear facilities.

 

Washington asked for it back but Iran refused, and instead released photos of Iranian officials studying the aircraft.

 

The US and its allies believe Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the charge, saying its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes only, such as power generation and cancer treatment.

 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.04.12, 11:03
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