Iran's Guards shoot down US spy drone in Hormozgan province
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have shot down a U.S. “spy” drone in the southern province of Hormozgan, the Guards’ news website, Sepah News, said on Thursday.
Tension between Iran and the United States has spiked since last year, when President Donald Trump exited a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers and reimposed sanctions on the country.
State news agency IRNA carried the same report, identifying the drone as an “RQ-4 Global Hawk’.
“It was shot down when it entered Iran’s airspace near the Kouhmobarak district in the south,” the Guards’ website added.
Washington accuses Iran of being involved in explosive strikes on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week and four tankers off the United Arab Emirates on May 12, both near the Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for global oil supplies.
Iran has denied the accusation.
The RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) can fly at high altitudes for more than 30 hours, gathering near-real-time, high-resolution imagery of large areas of land in all types of weather, maker Northrop Grumman says on its website.
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Iran will not wage war against any nation: Iranian president
Iran will not wage war against any nation, President Hassan Rouhani said, a day after the United States announced the deployment of more troops to the Middle East amid rising tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Fears of a confrontation between Iran and the United States have mounted since attacks on two oil tankers at the entrance to the Gulf on Thursday, which Washington has blamed on Tehran.
“Iran will not wage war against any nation,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state TV. “Those facing us are a group of politicians with little experience.” He added, “Despite all of the Americans’ efforts in the region and their desire to cut off our ties with all of the world and their desire to keep Iran secluded, they have been unsuccessful.” Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced on Monday the deployment of about 1,000 more troops to the Middle East for what he said were defensive purposes citing concerns about a threat from Iran.
