TEHRAN (The Thursday Times) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they had shot down a US MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, a day after the country’s regular navy said it had downed another off the nearby coast of Sirik.
The Guards’ public relations office said a US military reconnaissance and combat drone “from the MQ-1 family” had been detected over the island and then intercepted and destroyed by the Aerospace Force’s advanced air defence system. A statement carried by state media said the Guards had thwarted an “enemy reconnaissance mission” by the “aggressor US army” using a “new advanced air defence system”.
On Friday, Iran’s regular navy said it had intercepted and destroyed a US-made MQ-1 drone over the Kouhestak area on the Sirik coast in Hormozgan province, using a new air defence system run under the country’s integrated air defence network.
Neither claim could be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from the US military. The US Air Force retired its MQ-1 Predator fleet in 2018, although the US Army still flies the related MQ-1C Gray Eagle. Iran has made similar claims several times in recent weeks, including one over Qeshm earlier this month.
Claims on both sides
The latest claim came a day after the US military rejected Iranian statements that the Guards had struck a US early-warning radar in Bahrain. Washington said its forces had shot down two one-way attack drones launched towards Bahrain and that the incident caused no damage or injuries. Iranian state media said that strike was in response to an air attack on a telecommunications tower in Hormozgan.
Qeshm, the largest island in the Gulf, lies just off the port city of Bandar Abbas, home to Iran’s largest naval base.
Iranian forces have also said this week that several oil tankers struck naval mines in and around the waterway, claims that have not been independently verified either. On Friday, the Guards’ commander, Major General Ahmad Vahidi, warned that Washington would face severe consequences if it took further action against Iran, even on a limited scale.
The war began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Since then, Iran has fired missiles and drones at US bases in Gulf countries and has tried to restrict shipping through Hormuz, while Washington has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that the economic pain on Iran meant there was no need for further US military action.
