JERUSALEM (JTA) — Iran shot down a United States military drone amid rising tensions between the two countries.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on June 20 it had shot down an “intruding American spy drone” after it entered into the country’s territory, CNN reported citing the state-run Press TV.
A U.S. official confirmed to CNN that a drone had been shot down, but said the incident occurred in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz, not in Iranian territory.
It is not clear when the drone was shot down.
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, responded to reports of the shot-down drone saying it sends “a clear message” to America.
Salami also said in a live statement on state television that Iran does “not have any intention for war with any country, but we are ready for war.”
Cap. Bill Urban, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, told Reuters that “no U.S. aircraft were operating in Iranian airspace” on June 20.
Last week two oil tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz were attacked by what is believed to be magnetic mines, which the U.S. blamed on Iran.
The State Department announced on June 17 that the U.S. will send 1,000 more troops to the Middle East over what is being deemed to be the growing threat of Iran.
The news of the troop movement came after Iran announced earlier June 17 that next week it will break the uranium stockpile limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal and that it had quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium.
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