U.S. drone shot down by Iran in international space, U.S. officials say

A U.S. drone was shot down in international airspace above the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, U.S. Central Command said, contradicting a claim by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard that it had struck the aircraft after it entered Iranian airspace.

The news comes amid rising tensions in the region, with American officials blaming Iran for what they said was an attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week. Iran has denied any involvement.

A Central Command spokesman, Capt. Bill Urban, said in a statementthat a surface-to-air missile hit an RQ-4A Global Hawk in international airspace above the strait. He called the incident "an unprovoked attack."

Iranian and U.S. officials have previously delivered conflicting reports identifying the drone as an RQ-4A Global Hawk or its naval variant, the MQ-4 Triton.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement early Thursday that the U.S.-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its air force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region, after the aircraft had violated Iranian airspace.

In a later statement, they said the drone left a U.S. base in the Persian Gulf shortly after midnight local time on Thursday, moved around the Strait of Hormuz before entering Iranian airspace four hours later when it was immediately shot down.

The commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, said on state television that the strike served as a signal that Iran will not back down from threats. "We have no intention of war, but we are standing strong," he said.

The head of Iran’s national security council said the country’s airspace is its red line, and there would have been a firm response regardless of which country trespassed.