"The drone was captured and landed safely and intact."Teheran (ANTARA News/AFP) - Iran`s Revolutionary Guards claimed on Tuesday to have "captured" a small US drone over Gulf waters after it entered Iranian airspace on an intelligence-gathering mission.
"The unmanned US drone patrolling Persian Gulf waters, performing reconnaissance and gathering intel, was captured as soon as it entered Iranian airspace," the unit`s naval force command said in a statement on Guards website, Sepahnews.com.
The statement did not say exactly when, where or how the aircraft was captured. It said the drone had been conducting a mission over "the past few days."
The Guards` naval force, tasked with guarding Iranian assets in the Gulf, said the drone was a Boeing-made ScanEagle, a short-range surveillance vehicle with a three-metre wingspan that is typically launched from ships and which can fly up to 100 kilometres.
Exactly a year ago, on December 4, Iran claimed to have captured a much bigger and more sophisticated stealth drone, a bat-winged RQ-170 Sentinel. Tehran rejected a US request for its return and said it would reverse-engineer that drone to make its own.
State television networks Al-Alam and Press TV showed footage of what they said was the ScanEagle drone they had captured.
The light-grey vehicle was shown suspended inside a hangar and apparently intact, with two Guards officers examining it in front of a poster saying, in English: "We shall trample on the US."
A lawmaker who chairs the Iranian parliament`s defence commission, Esmaeel Kosari, boasted to Al-Alam of the drone`s capture and warned of "decisive confrontation" if Iranian airspace was violated again.
"The drone was captured and landed safely and intact. The capture is a source of pride for our armed forces as the drone uses advanced technology," said Kosari, a former Guards commander himself.
Iran "possesses the capability and technology to confront such violations," he said.
Iran`s foreign ministry said last week the United States had violated Iranian airspace eight times in October, and warned of a "serious reaction" if such incursions continued.
On November 1, Iranian fighter jets fired on a US drone in the Gulf but failed to bring it down, according to the US Defence Department.
The most recent drone claim adds to military tensions between the two arch-foes in the Gulf.
Iran is subject to US surveillance, notably over its controversial nuclear programme.
Iran said the ScanEagle drone was on a reconnaissance mission near Bushehr, which hosts its only nuclear power plant, as well as its main oil terminal at Kharg island.
(U.H-RN)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
