US claims from Thursday that the USS Boxer shot down an Iranian drone in
the Strait of Hormuz are facing growing doubts on Friday, as Iranian
state media has released a video which shows what they say is the putative drone leaving the area unharmed.
Iran had already said that the claim of a drone having being shot down
was false, and a top military spokesman confirmed that all of Iran’s drones were accounted for, and not destroyed.
Iran’s since-released video shows a surveillance drone flying around
near the USS Boxer, tracking it through the Strait of Hormuz on
Thursday. The drone follows the ship through the entire trip through the
Strait, and returns to base without being attacked at all.
Iranian Foreign Ministry officials even jokingly suggested that the
explanation for all of this could be that the USS Boxer had shot and
destroyed its own ship-board drone by mistake.
The USS Boxer isn’t usually shipped out with drones at any rate, and US officials didn’t address this. President Trump, however, said he has “no doubt” that the Iranian drone was shot down, despite the video clearly showing it not shot down.
Iran Releases Video, Says It Proves Drone Wasn’t Shot Down
Trump says 'no doubt' Navy shot down that drone
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.
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