Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they downed another American spy drone hours after reports that the United States stepped up spying on the Bushehr nuclear plant.
The Guards captured a ScanEagle drone over the Persian Gulf waters upon its intrusion into the Iranian airspace, Iran’s regime-controlled Press TV and Fars News Agency reported. There was no mention of when the aircraft was intercepted.
Guards Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said, “Such drones are usually launched from large aircraft carriers.”
The ScanEagle drone is a long-endurance aircraft built by a subsidiary of Boeing, and Fars stated, “ScanEagle is based on Insitu’s Seascan miniature robotic aircraft and draws on Boeing’s systems integration, communications and payload technologies.
“As standard payload ScanEagle carries either an inertially stabilized electro-optical or an infrared camera. The…camera allows the operator to easily track both stationary and moving targets, providing real-time intelligence.”
Arutz Sheva quoted a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday that the United States has stepped up efforts to spy over the Bushehr nuclear plant, where American officials are concerned Iran is storing weapons-grade plutonium for a nuclear weapon.
Last year, Iran claimed it downed a stealth aircraft over the city of Kashmar, near the Afghan border, and last month, it said it “repelled” a US drone that entered the country.
The United States has not commented on Tuesday’s claim of a downed drone, but the Guards released footage of the captured unmanned aircraft.