Calling Trump Claim 'Delusional,' Iran Says US May Have Shot Down Its Own Drone by Mistake
Iran on Friday said President Donald Trump's claim that the American Navy shot down an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz is "delusional" and suggested the U.S. may have accidentally destroyed its own aircraft.
"We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else," Abbas Araghchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, tweeted Friday. "I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own [unmanned aircraft system] by mistake!"
Araghchi's tweet comes just hours after Trump said in remarks at the White House that the U.S. Navy "immediately destroyed" an unmanned drone that flew within 1,000 yards of an American warship. CNN reported that the drone was downed with "electronic jamming."
"This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters," Trump said, without presenting any evidence to support the accusation. "The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, facilities, and interests, and calls upon all nations to condemn Iran's attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce."
Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, who is in New York on a visit to the United Nations headquarters, told reporters, "We have no information about losing a drone."
Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces, said the U.S. president's claim that the American Navy downed an Iranian drone is completely false.
"Unlike Trump's delusional and groundless claim," said Shekarchi, "all drones belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, including the one mentioned by the U.S. president, have returned to their bases safe and sound after carrying out their scheduled surveillance and control operations."