USA

Iran insists it didn’t lose any drones

cde.news desk 19 July 2019, 10:57 · 1 min read

This undated photo released by the Iranian Defence Ministry, claims to show the launch of the long-range drone, dubbed Karar (striker), by the Iranian armed forces, at an undisclosed location.

Iran’s top military spokesman said all the country’s drones had returned safely to base, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, after President Donald Trump said a U.S. Navy ship had “destroyed” one.

“All drones belonging to Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz … returned safely to their bases after their mission of identification and control, and there is no report of any operational response by USS Boxer,” Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior armed forces spokesman, was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

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 by mistake!

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) July 19, 2019

Also Seyed Abbas Araghchi, the deputy Iranian Foreign Minister issued a tweet echoing Shekarchi comments.

Trump said on Thursday that the drone had flown to within 1,000 yards (914 metres) of the U.S. warship Boxer and had ignored “multiple calls to stand down” in the latest episode to stir tensions in the Gulf.