Story Change: US Drone Was Spying on Iranian Sites, Officials Admit

Military 'Did Not Have a Good Understanding of What Was Going On'

The narrative surrounding the lost RQ-170 Sentinel drone over the skies of Iran last week continues to morph, with US military officials now saying that the drone, which was previously supposed to be “patrolling” the border, was actually spying on nuclear sites in Iran.

Seeking to explain the sudden and dramatic change, military officials quoted by CNN conceded that the US military “did not have a good understanding of what was going on” with the high tech spy drone.

Iran also changed their story on the drone, backing off its claim that it had “shot down” the drone and now saying that it had used some sort of false GPS signal to trick the drone into believing it landed in Afghanistan when in fact it landed undamaged inside Iran.

This could be even worse for US officials, who were already concerned with the apparent lack of damage to the drone, as it would not only suggest Iran can grant access to a fully intact stealth drone to nations like Russia and China, but that the drones are also vulnerable to such tricks in the future.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.