The US says a surveillance drone shot down by a surface-to-air missile was in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said it shot down the drone on Thursday morning when it entered Iranian airspace near the Kuhmobarak, close to the Strait of Hormuz. The different accounts could not be immediately reconciled. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency, citing the Guard, identified the drone as an RQ-4 Global Hawk.
Iran shoots down U.S. military drone in Gulf region
However, the US Navy also flies a variant that looks similar called the MQ-4C Triton. The attacks come against the backdrop of heightened tensions between the US and Iran following President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from Tehran's nuclear deal a year ago. The incident happened over the Strait Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all global oil moves.
