Iran releases images of drone
U.S. hasn’t confirmed origin of the aircraft
TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian television showed video Thursday of what it said is an unmanned surveillance American drone that the country’s armed forces have brought down last weekend.
The images were presented as the first visual proof that Iran has the radar-evading bat-winged aircraft, which appeared in the video to be in good condition. It was displayed on a platform decorated with a banner saying “We’ll trample America underfoot” and a U.S. flag with skulls instead of stars. The authenticity of the video could not be verified.
Pentagon officials would not confirm whether the aircraft seen in the video was a U.S. drone. Other officials said privately that the aircraft resembled an RQ-170 Sentinel, the kind of drone that Iran said Sunday had been brought down after it violated the country’s airspace along its eastern border.
Iran’s armed forces said Sunday that their electronic warfare unit managed to take control of a Sentinel and steer it to the ground, a feat U.S. officials say is unlikely because of its technical difficulty. The aircraft was detected over the eastern town of Kashmar, about 140 miles from the border with Afghanistan, Iranian media reported.
A senior U.S. official said the drone was on a mission for the CIA, raising fears that its sophisticated technology could be exploited by Tehran or shared with other U.S. rivals.
Iranian officials have seized on the incident to promote the prowess of their armed forces at a time of deepening diplomatic isolation and growing Iranian anger over the Western campaign to stop the country’s nuclear program.
Esmail Kosari, the conservative deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, described the reported downing of the drone as a “blow to the arrogant power” of the U.S.
On Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador to protest “the violation of its airspace,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.