In escalating tensions between the two countries, Iran has said that none of its drones were shot down by the U.S. military as claimed by President Donald Trump but that an American warship might have “shot down its own drone by mistake”.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, claimed in a tweet that the country had not lost any of its drones in the Strait of Hormuz.
“I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own UAS by mistake!” Araghchi tweeted.
Trump had said that the USS Boxer had taken defensive action against an Iranian drone that came within 1,000 yards of the warship as it entered the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. military added that the warship might have taken down two Iranian drones using an electronic jamming device, but did not confirm if it saw both destroyed drones go into the water, according to AP.
“We are confident we brought down one drone – we may have brought down a second,” Marine Corps Gen Kenneth McKenzie told CBS News. The claim was corroborated by the U.S. Central Command spokesperson.
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Iran’s defense minister Amir Hatami later refuted this claim.
“If anyone claims they brought down our drone, show it. No drone from the Islamic Republic of Iran has been brought down,” Hatami said, according to ISNA.
“We showed the body of the (U.S.) drone that we brought down.”
