US May Have Downed Its Own UAS By Mistake
Iran: “We’ve Not Lost Any Drones”
Iran has issued a surprise astounding contradiction of the US account related to Thursday’s drone downing.
President Trump had announced that the amphibious assault ship, the USS Boxer, shot down an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz in a defensive action. The president said in a press briefing it was “immediately destroyed,” when it came within 1,000 yards of the ship according to the president, “threatening the safety of the ship and the ship’s crew.”
But Iran has denied losing any of its drones following the perplexing statement from Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif yesterday evening saying he was not be aware of any drone downing following Trump’s announcement, according to Reuters. “We have no information about losing a drone today,” Zarif had told reporters at the United Nations. Instead, Iranian officals are now suggesting the US Navy actually shot down its own drone by mistake. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Twitter early Friday:
“We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else. I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) by mistake!”
And Iran military spokesman, Gen. Abolfazl Shekari, was also quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that “all Iranian drones that are in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, including the one which the U.S. president mentioned, after carrying out scheduled identification and control missions, have returned to their bases.”
According to President Trump’s account of the incident, the Iranian operators of the drone refused calls to stand down, after which it was “immediately destroyed,” when it came within 1,000 yards of the ship, “threatening the safety of the ship and the ship’s crew.”
Trump has called on “other nations to protect their ships as they go through the Strait,” also as a State Department official told Bloomberg that the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps which patrols the area has kept up “continued harassment” of vessels in and around the strait.
Iran Releases “Video Proof” Contradicting Trump Claim US Shot Down Drone
Earlier in the day top Iranian officials claimed the US Navy may have shot down its own US drone “by mistake” – contradicting the White House account that it had been “immediately destroyed” when it came within 1,000 yards of the ship according to President Trump during Thursday’s press briefing announcing the Iranian drone downing. Iran’s military says all of its drones are accounted for and that it had successfully tracked and monitored the USS Boxer via its overhead unmanned aerial system (UAS) without incident.
Hours following the bizarre contradiction over basic facts, Iran aired video “proof” that its version of events are correct on state TV. Iran’s Press TV published the following video:
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement calling Trump’s account of an Iranian drone downing “sheer lies” and says the newly released drone footage proves the US version of events can’t possibly be true.
An Iranian military spokesman said its reconnaissance drone “returned to base safely after mission” and the drone observation video of the USS Boxer confirms this.
The video was released after Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Twitter early Friday:
“We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else. I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) by mistake!”
Iran’s drone footage was aired with the time stamp and date evident, and state media released the following English language statement:
US President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that the drone had been shot down after it flew to within 900 meters the US navy’s USS Boxer amphibious assault ship and ignored “multiple calls to stand down.”
Later, the Pentagon claimed the warship had taken “defensive action” against an Iranian drone at 10 a.m. local time (07:00 GMT) on Thursday.
The IRGC’s footage shows its Aerospace’s drone was carrying out its ongoing mission in the region before the entry of the US navy’s USS Boxer — escorted by five vessels — into the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranians are claiming that the time stamp reveals the drone was still in flight after the time President Trump says it was downed by the USS Boxer.
[Note: Iran like other Middle East states uses a “YY/MM/DD” date format, hence yesterday’s date of July 18, 2019 is shown as 19/07/18.]
🔴 DO NOT MISS 🔴#IRGC releases video showing its #drone -the #US alleges to have downed-safely returning to its base after monitoring #USSBoxer before and after the vessel sailed through the Strait of #Hormuz.
PARTS 1-2-3#Iran #IranianDrone #StraitOfHormuz #PerisanGulf pic.twitter.com/5by5nqoK3g
— Press TV (@PressTV) July 19, 2019
🔴 DO NOT MISS 🔴#IRGC releases video showing its #drone -the #US alleges to have downed-safely returning to its base after monitoring #USSBoxer before and after the vessel sailed through the Strait of #Hormuz.
PART 3#Iran #IranianDrone #StraitOfHormuz #PerisanGulf pic.twitter.com/FBJlhHTsQC
— Press TV (@PressTV) July 19, 2019
This is not the first shot down by U.S. mistake:
Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas, that was shot down on 3 July 1988 by an SM-2MR surface-to-air missile fired from USS Vincennes, a guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy. The aircraft, an Airbus A300, was destroyed and all 290 people on board, including 66 children, were killed.
