Iran shoots down a US drone:
The US have confirmed that Iran has shot down one of its $180million spy drones, but refutes the Revolutionary Guard’s claims it was in Iranian airspace.
Iranian commander Hossein Salami declared his men were ‘ready for war,’ as the downing of the aircraft over its ‘red lines’ sent ‘a clear message’ to the Americans.
Tehran alleged an RQ-4 Global Hawk was shot down over their southern coastal city of Hormozgan, but a U.S. official said it had been a Navy MQ-4C Triton in international airspace.
A highly sophisticated missile will have been deployed, of deep concern to Washington not only for Tehran’s patently advanced arsenal, but the secrets they could steal in examining the stricken drone.
The MQ-4C soars to over 50,000ft, can be operated from 9,400 miles away and is loaded with optical/infrared sensors – it is believed to be the first time one has been taken out.
It comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over U.S. economic sanctions and alleged Iranian attacks on shipping in the Straits of Hormuz.
It’s not quite so fun playing gunboat diplomacy when the enemy has the ability to sink your gunboats. The fact that a Triton has not been shot down before tends to indicate that Iran’s military capabilities are better than expected, which should give the Trump administration serious pause about listening to the neoclowns and their incessant demands for what very well could turn out to be the US empire’s Sicilian Expedition.
One should be hesitant to take either side at their word, however, since there were no Tritons officially deployed to the region and there is some belief that it was actually a RQ-4N BAMS-D drone, which are Global Hawks converted to experimental Tritons. This may explain the apparent contradiction in reports.
Now, remember, the neoclowns want us to believe that Iran can shoot down a new-model drone, which reportedly has never been done before, but nevertheless wasn’t able to sink a civilian ship in six separate attempts.
UPDATE: Iran has released what it claims are the precise coordinates of the shoot-down:
At 00:14 US drone took off from UAE in stealth mode & violated Iranian airspace. It was targeted at 04:05 at the coordinates (25°59’43″N 57°02’25″E) near Kouh-e Mobarak. We’ve retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down.