Iran shoots down U.S. military drone in
Gulf region
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[June 20, 2019]
By Parisa Hafezi and Phil Stewart
DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran on
Thursday shot down a U.S. military drone that it said was flying over
one of its southern provinces on the Gulf, increasing fears of military
conflict as Washington seeks to isolate Tehran over its nuclear and
regional activities.
It was the latest in an escalating spate of incidents in the Gulf
region, a critical artery for global oil supplies, since mid-May
including explosive strikes on six oil tankers as Tehran and Washington
have slid toward confrontation.
Iran has denied involvement in any of the attacks, but global jitters
about the risk of a wider Middle East war disrupting oil exports have
triggered a jump in crude prices. They surged by more than $3 to above
$63 a barrel on Thursday.
Tensions flared with the U.S. pullout last year from world powers' 2015
nuclear accord with Iran and have worsened as Washington imposed fresh
sanctions to throttle Tehran's vital oil trade and Iran retaliated
earlier this week with a threat to breach limits on its nuclear
activities imposed by the deal.
Upping the ante, Washington said on Monday it would deploy about 1,000
more troops, along with Patriot missiles and manned and unmanned
surveillance aircraft, to the Middle East on top of a 1,500-troop
increase announced after the May tanker attacks.
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Sepah News, the website of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),
said the "spy" drone was brought down over the southern Iranian province
of Hormozgan, which is on the Gulf.
A U.S. official said the drone was a U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton and that it
had been shot down in international air space over the Strait of Hormuz,
through which about a third of the world's seaborne oil exits the Gulf..
A Revolutionary Guards statement said the drone's identification
transponder had been switched off "in violation of aviation rules and
was moving in full secrecy" when it was downed, Iranian state
broadcaster IRIB reported.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned what it called a violation of
Iranian air space by the drone and warned of the consequences of such
"illegal and provocative" measures.
"CLEAR MESSAGE" TO U.S., IRAN SAYS
Brigadier General Hossein Salami, commander in chief of the
Revolutionary Guards, warned against any aggression and said the drone's
downing carried a "clear message" to Iran's arch-enemy.
"Our air space is our red line and Iran has always responded and will
continue to respond strongly to any country that violates our air
space," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security
Council, told Iran's Tasnim news agency.
The MQ-4C Triton's manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, says on its website
that the Triton can fly for over 24 hours at a time at altitudes higher
than 10 miles (16 km), with an operational range of 8,200 nautical
miles.
The U.S. sanctions net draped over Iran, designed to reduce its
lifeblood oil exports to zero and sever it from the dollar-dominated
global financial system, have wrought severe damage to Iran's economy.
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![](../images/062019pics/news_L19.jpg)
The Northrop Grumman-built Triton unmanned aircraft system completed
its first flight from the company's manufacturing facility in
Palmdale, California, U.S., May 22, 2013. US Navy/Northrop
Grumman/Bob Brown/Handout via REUTERS
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U.S. President Donald Trump has dispatched forces including aircraft
carriers, B-52 bombers and troops to the Middle East over the past
few weeks. Iran said last week that it was responsible for the
security of the Strait of Hormuz, calling on American forces to
leave the Gulf.
NUCLEAR ACCORD UNRAVELING
Tehran has also said it will suspend compliance with the nuclear
deal's curbs on its uranium enrichment, meant to block any pathway
to nuclear weapons capability, and threatened to disrupt oil
shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's clerical rulers have rejected as "warmongering" allegations
by the United States and its regional ally Saudi Arabia that Tehran
was behind the tanker attacks.
But Trump and Iran's top authority, Shi'ite clerical Supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have both said they have no interest in
starting a war.
Heightened tension between Iran and the United States have fanned
fears of increasing conflict in countries where Iran and its Gulf
Arab regional rivals have been locked in proxy battles for
predominance in the Middle East.
Trump says the 2015 nuclear accord signed by his predecessor Barack
Obama did not do enough to curb Iranian interventions in other
Middle East affairs or curb its ballistic missile program.
The Islamic Republic says its development of ballistic missiles and
its regional activities are defensive in nature.
Tehran said on Monday it would breach uranium enrichment limits in
10 days, but added that European signatories still had time to save
the nuclear deal.
Iran has rejected Trump's call to enter talks covering nuclear,
missile and other security disputes unless Washington returns to the
2015 deal that lifted global sanctions on Tehran.
Saudi Arabia has also accused Iran of supplying Yemen's Iran-aligned
Houthi movement with missiles and drones used in attacks on Saudi
oil pumping stations in May and on a civilian Saudi airport earlier
this month.
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On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis in Yemen
said a projectile landed near a desalination plant in the Saudi
province of Jizan, after Houthi-run Masirah TV said the group had
fired a missile at a power plant there.
(Additional reporting by Asma Alsharif in Dubai and Stephen Kalin in
Riyadh; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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