Iran General NewsIran denies shooting down US spy plane

Iran denies shooting down US spy plane

-

AP: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard denied Friday that it shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane over a uranium enrichment site, saying that its air defenses had only hit a test target.

The Associated Press

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guard denied Friday that it shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane over a uranium enrichment site, saying that its air defenses had only hit a test target.

The statement carried on the official IRNA news agency was in response to a claim earlier this week by Iranian lawmaker Ali Aghazadeh Dafsari, who said the U.S. drone was shot down as it was flying over the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom in central Iran. He claimed that the drone was trying to gather information on the underground site.

“What caused the spread of the news was related to the hitting of a test air target by the Guard’s air defense unit in the general region of Qom province,” IRNA quoted the statement as saying.

The Guard, the country’s most powerful military force, claimed that U.S. spy planes are unable to penetrate Iran’s air space.

Iran is locked in a dispute with the U.S. and its allies over Tehran’s disputed atomic program, which the West believes is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity and producing isotopes to treat medical patients.

Long kept secret, the Fordo site is built next to a military complex to protect it in case of attack. Iran only acknowledged Fordo’s existence after Western intelligence agencies identified it in September 2009. The facility is reportedly located 295 feet (90 meters) beneath a mountain.

Iran says it is planning to install advanced centrifuges at Fordo to speed up its nuclear activities.

Iran is under U.N. sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or atomic weapons.

Iran has claimed to shoot down U.S. spy planes in the past. Earlier this month, Iranian military officials showed Russian experts several U.S. drones they said were shot down in recent years.

Latest news

 Statistics show that New Year accidents’ deaths in Iran reached 585

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the...

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Must read

IAEA shows diplomats images of suspected Iran nuclear clean-up

Reuters: The U.N. nuclear watchdog showed a series of...

Six powers consult Arabs on Iran’s nuclear plans

Reuters: The five permanent members of the U.N. Security...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you