Sections

Breaking: Iran shoots down US drone over international waters

An RQ-4 Global Hawk speeds down the runway for takeoff Oct. 24, 2018, at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy. The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft with an integrated sensor suite that provides global all-weather, day or night intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ramon A. Adelan).

by ·

An Iranian surface-to-air missile downed an American drone over international waters in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz. This act of aggression follows in the wake of last week’s unprovoked damaging of two oil tankers by Iranian limpet mines.

Navy Captain Bill Urban, CENTCOM’s spokesperson, said in a statement that “U.S. Central Command can confirm that a U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (or BAMS-D) ISR aircraft was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz at approximately 11:35 p.m. GMT on June 19.”

CENTCOM noted, however, that Iranian claims that the drone was overflying Iranian airspace are inaccurate, adding that “this was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace.”

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO CONTINUE READING.

Your subscription is important and supports our editorial integrity. Advertisers are sometimes afraid of being associated with controversial news topics, and your subscription is vital to ensuring we can continue to publish the courageous news we are known and respected for.

Get Insider Access and Expert Analysis Today

SUBSCRIBE NOW

or Log In

BECAUSE, FACTS DON’T TAKE SIDES

Your Subscription Supports Honest News Efforts

TRY 4 WEEKS FOR $1.99

Comments

Join our community. To comment on this article please join/login.
Here’s a sample of the comments on this post.

  • Jeds

    It’s a drone and now Iran revealed one of the locations of missiles networks.

  • Thomas G

    Before fracking the US had to worry about keeping the Hormuz open. Now we can close it.

  • Daniel

    Do you think we are conducting false flag operations to start a war with Iran?

  • WayTooMuchGear

    Iran knows nobody will believe they were in Iranian airspace. BAMS is, by design, a standoff sensor platform flying at 65,000 ft. It has no need to go anywhere near their airspace. They just saw it as a good chance to take out a US national asset and get some of our tech off their back for a bit.
    Here’s a nice little bit of legislation for our U.S. Senate; levy an additional sanction on Iran for the same amount of money it costs us for every asset they attack. Economic tit-for-tat.

  • John R

    This is a lot more believable to me than the alleged tanker attack.