Iran releases evidence of controlling US UAVs in Syria
Iran has released video it claims was taken from US drones captured by its military.
"Seven or eight unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating continuously in the airspace of Syria and Iraq have been controlled by us. The intelligence they collected was accessed by us before the US," said the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' air force, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh on February 21.RTreport
| Video released by Iranian media to prove they took control of a US UAV. |
Iran's FARS news agency later released a nearly three-minute video to "prove General Hajizadeh's claim." The video is said to be taken from cameras on several US UAVs, including an MQ-9 Reaper UAV that lost control and crashed into the desert.
In July 2016, the US military announced that one of its MQ-9 Reaper aircraft lost control, crashed to the ground and was destroyed by a coalition airstrike shortly afterward.
In response to the new information released by Iran, Pentagon spokeswoman Rebecca Rebarich said, "The United States is aware of this information and we have nothing to add."
Iran has repeatedly interfered with US UAV operations in the Middle East. The most notable intervention occurred in 2011 when the Iranian military forced a US RQ-170 reconnaissance UAV to land almost intact in an area near the city of Kashmar. Iranian engineers then copied it to create a replica RQ-170 called Saegheh, capable of carrying four guided bombs.
