A US MQ-9 drone was shot down on Tuesday over northern Yemen, and while the indications are this was a Yemen thing, US officials are wasting no time in trying to make it all about Iran, accusing Iran of being behind the whole thing.
US officials are saying that Iran must have made the missile that shot
down the drone, a ground-to-air missile that was fired by Yemen’s Houthi
movement against their drone. Officials are promising more
investigations.
Which probably doesn’t mean actual investigations. Blaming Iran is an
end unto itself, and any evidence can only throw that into doubt,
particularly when the Houthis are denying any Iranian involvement, and
saying they made the missiles “locally” within Yemen.
There is no apparent evidence of Iranian involvement in the first place,
beyond blaming Iran being convenient for the US, and past Saudi
attempts to link the Houthis to Iran to try to get international support
for the war.
US Blames Iran for Shooting Down American Drone Over Yemen
Houthis say they built and used missile on US 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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