Iranupdated 21m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 23 August 2000Iran’s IRGC Says It Shot Down a US MQ-1 Drone Over Qeshm Island
4 West Asian2 Western Alternative1 Asian1 OtherPhoto: NASA image using data provided courtesy of the University of Maryland’s Global Land Cover Facility / US federal, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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IRGC says it shot down a US MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island. Drone was tracked, intercepted and destroyed by an advanced air defense system.
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IRGC downs US drone
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it shot down a US MQ-1 drone flying over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, and the IRGC said its air defenses detected the drone over the island before bringing it down with a newly developed system. The IRGC said it used a newly developed air defense system to down the MQ-1 drone, and the Anadolu Ajansı text placed the incident over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Mehr News Agency said the IRGC Aerospace Force intercepted and destroyed the US-made MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island using an advanced air-defense system operated by the corps. Middle East Eye said the IRGC Aerospace Force downed the drone using a “new advanced air defence system,” and the outlet described the IRGC statement as carried by state media.
How the IRGC described it
The IRGC said it detected the drone over Qeshm Island and then shot it down using a recently developed air defense system, according to Anadolu Ajansı. The IRGC described the action as thwarting an “enemy reconnaissance mission” by the “aggressor US army,” and Middle East Eye repeated that the IRGC said its Aerospace Force had downed the drone.
Mehr News Agency added that the IRGC Public Relations Office announced the MQ-1 drone was detected over Qeshm Island and subsequently intercepted and destroyed by the IRGC Aerospace Force’s advanced air-defense system. Mehr News Agency also said that earlier on Friday the Iranian Army Navy Force announced it intercepted and destroyed a US-made MQ-1 drone in the Kouhestak area along the coast of Sirik, Hormozgan province, using a new air defense system under the country’s integrated air defense command network.
Broader Iran-US context
The US and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28, and Tehran responded by attacking Israel and US military facilities in Arab countries, according to Anadolu Ajansı.
Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 18 and began negotiations, which later stalled over disagreements on how to ensure safe and free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Anadolu Ajansı.
Mehr News Agency did not tie the Qeshm Island interception to a specific negotiation step, but it described the IRGC Aerospace Force’s air-defense system as detecting, intercepting and destroying the US-made MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island.
Middle East Eye said the IRGC described the drone as a US MQ-1 Predator drone over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, and it attributed the claim to a statement carried by state media.