Iran Claims it Captured an American Drone; U.S. Says Nuh-Uh

iran captures american drone

The U.S-Iran showdown is heating up.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps naval forces claim they have captured an American drone that flew over Iranian airspace in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. Navy immediately denied the claim.

The state media in Iran reported that they had captured a Boeing ScanEagle, but the US responded by saying that all American drones in the Middle East were accounted for and that they remain confined to international waters.

According to The New York Times, several kingdoms in the Persian Gulf have ScanEagles. Also, the drone may have been operated by the Central Intelligence Agency or National Security Agency, both of which monitor Iran.

It has been reported that some drones are liable to jamming and spoofing. Spoofing refers to an unencrypted GPS signal being taken over by enemy forces, in turn hijacking the drone. This could explain how Iran might capture a drone and show images of it with little apparent damage.

This follows a report from the Pentagon on November 8th that warplanes from Iran fired at a drone over the gulf the previous week, marking the first incident in which Iran fired at an American drone. In this attack, American officials claimed that the drone was flying over international waters, while Iranian officials maintained that it had crossed Iranian borders. And, last month Iran went to the United Nations listing more than eight American violations of its airspace.