Iran claimed
Tuesday it had captured a U.S. drone after it entered Iranian airspace
over the Persian Gulf— even showing an image of a purportedly downed
craft on state TV — but the U.S. Navy said all its unmanned aircraft in
the region were "fully accounted for."
The conflicting accounts still
leave the possibility that the drone claimed by Iran, a Boeing-designed
ScanEagle, could have been plucked from the sea in the past and unveiled
for maximum effect following escalating tensions over U.S. surveillance
missions in the Gulf.
Other countries in the region — such as the United Arab Emirates — also have ScanEagle drones in their fleets.
Cmdr. Jason Salata, a spokesman
for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said ScanEagles operated by
the Navy "have been lost into the water" over the years, but there is no
"record of that occurring most recently."
The Iranian announcement did not give details on the time or location of the claimed drone capture.
It's certain, however, to be portrayed by Tehran as another bold
challenge to U.S. reconnaissance efforts in the region. Last month, the
Pentagon said a drone came under Iranian fire in the Gulf but was not
harmed. A year ago, Iran managed to bring down an unmanned CIA spy drone
possibly coming from Afghanistan.
Iran also has recently alleged repeated airspace violations by U.S. drones, which Washington denies.
"The U.S. Navy has fully accounted for all unmanned air vehicles
operating in the Middle East region," said Salata. "Our operations in
the Gulf are confined to internationally recognized waters and
airspace."
Iran claimed it captured the
drone after it entered Iranian airspace. A report on state TV quoted the
navy chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ali Fadavi, as
saying the Iranian forces caught the "intruding" drone, which had
apparently taken off from a U.S. aircraft carrier.
"The U.S. 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."
Al-Alam, the Iranian state TV's
Arabic-language channel, showed two Guard commanders examining what
appeared to be an intact ScanEagle drone. It was not immediately clear
if that was the same drone Iran claimed to have captured.
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 U.S," was printed over the map in Farsi and English next to the Guard's emblem.
If true, the seizure of the drone would be the third reported incident involving Iran and U.S. drones in the past two years.
Last month, Iran claimed that a U.S. 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 late 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 U.S 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.
Iran meanwhile, has claimed advanced in drone technology.
In November, Iranian media
reported that the country had produced a domestically-made drone capable
of hovering. Earlier, Iran said it obtained images of sensitive Israeli
bases taken by a drone that was launched by Lebanon's Hezbollah and
downed by Israel.
Iran also claimed other drones
made dozens of apparently undetected flights into Israeli airspace from
Lebanon in recent years. Israel has rejected the Iranian assertions.
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