Iran's navy says it has captured a U.S. drone that entered Iranian
airspace over the Persian Gulf. The U.S. has denied that an active U.S.
Navy drone was seized.
FULL STORY
Are you there? Share your storyIran claims seizure of U.S. drone over Persian Gulf
December 4, 2012 -- Updated 1529 GMT (2329 HKT)
Iran claims capture of U.S. drone
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The U.S. Navy has accounted for all its drones, a U.S. defense official says
- United States operates only in internationally recognized air space in the Gulf, says source
- The drone was seized as it flew over the Persian Gulf, Iranian state media says
- Iran's Revolutionary Guard says the drone was collecting data
However, a U.S. defense
official, who could not be named because the official was not authorized
to speak to the media, told CNN that whatever the Iranians claim to
have, it is not an actively operating U.S. Navy drone.
"The U.S. Navy has fully
accounted for all unmanned air vehicles (UAV) operating in the Middle
East region. Our operations in the Gulf are confined to internationally
recognized water and air space," the source said. The internationally
recognized territorial limit is 12 nautical miles off the coast.
It is not yet clear whether any other branch of the U.S. military or government might have been operating a drone in the area.
Iranian state media
quoted Adm. Ali Fadavi, of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, as saying
the unmanned aerial device was a ScanEagle.
The device was spotted
carrying out "spying operations" in the Persian Gulf area in the past
few days and was captured by Revolutionary Guard anti-aircraft squads,
according to Iran's official news agency, IRNA.
With a wingspan of just
over 10 feet, the ScanEagle is designed to fly for 24 hours or more
without refueling and can survive extreme weather conditions, according
to its manufacturer. It can be launched from the ground or from a
warship.
The ScanEagle is a relatively low-cost, low-tech system and is operated by a number of U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf region.
Iran has not given details of exactly how or when it captured the supposed U.S. device.
Iran's official Press TV channel showed footage of what was purported to be the drone. No identification markings were visible.
Last month, the Pentagon
said Iranian jets had fired on a U.S. drone as it flew off the Iranian
coastline in the northern Persian Gulf.
The armed MQ-1 Predator
was on a routine surveillance mission above international waters, 16
miles off the coast, the Defense Department said.
The latest announcement
comes a year to the day after Iran claimed to have shot down another
U.S. drone, a high-altitude RQ-170 Sentinel. It created a toy model of
the drone, a much more sophisticated device than the ScanEagle, to
celebrate its capture.
U.S. officials said the
RQ-170 Sentinel, a stealth drone developed for the Air Force to help
provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, had crashed in
the Iranian desert after leaving an airbase in Afghanistan.COPY http://edition.cnn.com
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