Two Iranian fighter jets fired on an unarmed US Air Force Predator drone last week, according to CNN.
The drone was fired upon but not hit, and the Obama administration did not disclose information about the incident, keeping it from the American public just days before the US presidential election.
The Pentagon claims the drone was in international airspace “east of Kuwait” and that it was performing “routine maritime surveillance.”
The claim that the drone was in international airspace cannot be confirmed, but it is dubious considering the difficulty Iran would have of firing on a small drone far from its own territory.
The claim that the unarmed Predator drone was engaged in “routine maritime surveillance” is also very dubious. First of all, just because it was “routine” has no bearing on whether its activity could justly be seen as hostile.
And if it was routine, and the Pentagon has nothing to hide, then the surveillance mission should not have been classified, as it was.
News of the Obama administration’s drone wars in Yemen and Pakistan have been publicized internationally for years. That the Iranians were just supposed to presume the drone was unarmed, or surveilling the Gulf instead of the Iranian territory, is absurd.
If the situation had been reversed, and an identifiably Iranian drone was hovering over US airspace, or even off the coast, Washington undoubtedly would have reacted far more aggressively than Iran’s apparent warning shots that missed the US drone.
While I'm not saying it didn't happen, until I have infomation that doesn't come from "anonymous officials", there's still reason to believe it did not happen at all (or at least not how they claim).
you have to love CNN
"The incident raises fresh concerns within the Obama administration about Iranian military aggression in crucial Gulf oil shipping lanes."
Do these people live in an alternate universe ? the US has it's military in the gulf tens of thousands of miles away from home, and is engaged in multiple wars/military actions in that region, and has been bombing and interfering in the middle east for decades, but Iran is the aggressor!.
Beauty is in the eye of te beholder 😉 Gotta love this one!
sounds like something israeli agent wolf blitzer would say
Iran has a gulf, US doesn't
Help, police. That Iranian hit me on the fist with his eye. Book him!
The shoe on the other foot argument rarely gets passed the blind fury and revenge act that Uncle Scam routinely pulls.
Lets see how many coups has Iran organised against America versus How many Coups and Proxy wars has the United States organised against Iran!
Of course even today I doubt many US citizens percentage wise are even aware of such matters!
Iran who?
This sends a message to Washington loud and clear. The Iranians could have taken it down, Instead they sent a warning .Don't fly over Iran because we are watching your evey move. By the same token US may have been testing Iran"s air defences.
should have skyjacked it, stuck it in a container and shipped to china like a bmw.
In the 2nd sentence of paragraph 5, "weather" should be "whether."
good call, beat me to it
As should Iran react to its air space being violated.
For some reason I don't believe a darn thing the Pentagon says or "claims". We all knew they would attempt to start this war shortly after the elections. They are trying their best to not make it so obvious even though it will be for the non ignorant Americans.
Yeah, got to keep the wars going, the armament manufacturers going flat out, peace being marginalized.
The U.S. lives for war and killing. It seems to have no other purpose! Ask the Native Indians if you don't believe me!
international airspace only applies to civilian planes, unlike this drone and the US spy plane shot down by the chinese,
John Glaser, while the content of your article is interesting, you should take the time to re-read the article before pushing "submit". Reading it out loud beforehand will reveal the poor sentence structure (the flow) as well as some grammatical issues. Interesting article, none the less
In truth, if the Iranians are somewhat trained and weather is not too bad, they can surely see whether the Predator is armed [i.e. has air-to-ground missiles] or not. Look for pointy things Hellfire missiles under the wings. The drone will not be able to take action against other airplanes of course and really is a sitting duck for any attacking fighter jet. Phew Phew!!
I wonder whether the Iranians could have hailed the robot, and be put in contact with the operator in Langley? "Whatcha doing, Americanski?" "Umm… errr…"
Not so sure. The Iraqis shot down a Predator armed with a Stinger in 2002.
One good point to this – it's driving Pamela Geller apoplectic.
All one needs to do is ask Pamela Geller what she would want done if an Iranian Drone was sighted 100 miles off the coast of the United States, or similarly 100 miles of the coast of Israel, of course we really wouldnt have to wait long and the answer would be to shoot it down! American (Israeli) Exceptionalism because we are Gods Gift to the Planet!
What would happen if an Iranian drone flew past Hoboken ? We would never hear the end of it.
I wonder how much more information was withheld until after the election and how much information that was released was fallacious?
Truth is the first casualty of Elections!
I call BS on the whole thing. The Pentagram said it, so it must be true, and we all know they and Israel are desparately trying to provoke Iran to start a war. From what I understand, the Iranian aircraft involved was a Russian-made Su-25 Frogfoot, a ground-attack plane similar to the US A-10 Warthog. Don't the Iranians operate MiGs in the air-defense role? However, even the Frogfoot is faster than the Predator drone and could have easily shot it down. But no Iranian pilot or military commander in their right mind would do that unless attacked by the US first, as it would be suicide. If this incident were true, I hope the overgrown video-game geek operating the drone back at Creech AFB in Nevada or wherever got his pants soiled from the experience.
Massive assumption there, Mr. Glaser. What use does CNN or the Pentagon have for telling the truth when they see so very many uses for lying?
Iran fired on drone yesterday and brought it down last year as it stays in Iran hall of fame.lol
Israel murdered eight activists from Turkey when their boat came within 20 miles of Israel, this killer drone was 4 miles closer to shore when Iran fired their warning shots.
SHOOT THE IMPERIALIST WARMONGER MUDERING US DRONES DOWN!!! THE FASCIST IMPERIALIST HEDGEMONIC CIA US ADMIN AND MILITARY KILLING MURDERING COMPLEX MST BE STOPED!!
What would happen if an Iranian drone flew past Hoboken ? We would never hear the end of it.