Iran
US President Donald Trump speaks during his re-election kickoff rally at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, June 18, 2019. Photo: Evan Vucci / AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – US President Donald Trump said "Iran made a very big mistake" after US Central Command confirmed an Iranian surface-to-air missile downed a US Navy surveillance aircraft on Thursday morning.
Asked by reporters whether the US plans to strike Iran, Trump said: “You'll soon find out.”
However, Trump also indicated Iran may have shot down the drone by accident, claiming “a general or somebody” mistakenly ordered the attack. Appearing to downplay the incident, he called it a “new wrinkle” and a “fly in the ointment”.
Military officials earlier denied Iran's claims the aircraft was in Iranian airspace when it was shot down.
“Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false.”
Trump responded to the incident in a tweet on Thursday, saying simply: "Iran made a very big mistake!"
Iran made a very big mistake!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2019
Urban called the incident an unprovoked attack on a US surveillance asset in international airspace.
He confirmed the BAMS-D model as an RQ-4A Global Hawk High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS).
The aircraft “provides real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Thursday that his country will go to the UN to prove the US Navy drone had entered Iranian airspace.
At 00:14 US drone took off from UAE in stealth mode & violated Iranian airspace. It was targeted at 04:05 at the coordinates (25°59'43"N 57°02'25"E) near Kouh-e Mobarak.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 20, 2019
We've retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down. pic.twitter.com/pJ34Tysmsg
“We’ll take this new aggression to #UN & show that the US is lying about international waters,” Zarif said.
“The US wages #EconomicTerrorism on Iran, has conducted covert action against us & now encroaches on our territory,” he said
“We don’t seek war, but will zealously defend our skies, land & waters.”
Speaking to reporters, Nancy Pelosi, a top Democrat and US House of Representatives Speaker, said there is no appetite for war.
“I think it’s a dangerous situation,” she said, according to Reuters.
“We have to be strong and strategic about how we protect our interests. We also cannot be reckless in what we do, so it will be interesting to see what they have to say.”
Twenty lawmakers are to receive a briefing on the latest development, she said.
“I don’t think the president wants to go to war. There is no appetite for going to war in our country.”
“A miscalculation on either side could provoke something very bad,” she added.
"In the early hours of this morning (Thursday 20 June) one American spy drone, 'Global Hawk', was fired on by IRGC anti-aircraft system and shot down after breaching the Islamic Republic of Iran's airspace in an area opposite the Mubarak Mountain in Hormozgan Province," a statement from the IRGC read.
IRGC affiliated news outlets claimed that the Guard used the 'Third of Khordad' mobile air system to shoot down the drone.
Speaking on Thursday during a TV call-in program, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the US not to retaliate militarily against Iran, suggesting the move would be a “catastrophe for the region as a minimum”, AP reports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday: “Israel stands by the United States on this.”
“In the last 24 hours, Iran has intensified its aggression against the United States and against all of us,” he said during a reception for the New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, AP reports.
He appealed to “all peace-loving countries” to support US against Iranian provocations.
Washington and Tehran have been at loggerheads since May last year when President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, leaving the Europeans and other signatories of the deal to pick up the pieces.
It imposed a raft of sanctions targeting Iran's economy. Under relentless US pressure, Iranian oil exports have now fallen to below 500,000 barrel per day (bpd). Washington rescinded the six month waivers that were given to eight major customers of Iranian oil in early May.
On Thursday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said US sanctions on Iran’s oil sector are “working beautifully”.
“What we’re trying to do here, which is succeeding, is to cut off their export revenues. They sell oil, they sell petrochemicals, they sell iron and steel,” he told Fox News, Reuters reports.
“It’s certainly working - it’s working beautifully.”
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