ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran displayed on Friday the remaining parts of a US spy drone which was shot down over the Gulf of Oman in the early hours of Thursday morning, a move bound to agitate President Donald Trump’s administration as it ponders its move in response.
Parts of the $130 million RQ-4 Global Hawk drone’s carcass were displayed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force responsible for its takedown, as Iranian and American officials continue to wrangle over the circumstances around which the drone was shot down.
Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace standing next to the remaining parts of the drone, said on Friday that the spy drone “from the terrorist regime of America” flew from the US Al Dhafra base near Abu Dhabi and entered Iranian airspace at 4am on Thursday morning before the IRGC anti-aircraft missile system engaged the unmanned aerial vehicle.
Hajizadeh added that a Boeing P8 plane with 35 crew members aboard flew alongside the drone; breaching Iranian airspace, it could have been shot down, he said, but the IRGC decided not to do so.
IRGC head Hussein Salami said on Thursday that the drone had ventured into Iranian airspace and shooting it down was a clear message to the US administration that Iran is ready to respond to any aggression, but added that Tehran did not want war.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) released a statement on Thursday in which it claimed the flying drone was shot down over international waters.
Tension between Washington and Tehran continues to mount. After several oil tankers were attacked, President Trump deployed an aircraft carrier group and 2500 troops to the region.
The UK government, which has backed the US government in charging Iran with destabilizing the Middle East, has signaled that it was deploying around a hundred marines to the volatile region.
The New York Times reported on Friday morning that President Trump was minutes away from launching strikes against Iranian targets on Thursday evening as a response to the downing of the spy drone, before abruptly calling off the mission.
Hours earlier, Trump raised fears of retaliation when he tweeted that “Iran made a very big mistake”. He later downplayed the incident as an accident, calling it a “new wrinkle…a fly in the ointment.”
The perception of an increased likelihood of US strikes on Iranian targets pushed Brent Oil prices to over $65 a barrel on Friday, as any possible US military action could disrupt the flow of oil through the highly strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“The Strait of Hormuz is the world's most important oil chokepoint because of the large volumes of oil that flow through the strait. In 2018, its daily oil flow averaged 21 million barrels per day (b/d), or the equivalent of about 21% of global petroleum liquids consumption,” US Energy Information Administration said in a statement on Thursday.
“Flows through the Strait of Hormuz in 2018 made up about one-third of total global seaborne traded oil. More than one-quarter of global liquefied natural gas trade also transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2018,” the statement added.
Iran and the US have been at loggerheads since President Trump withdrew from the 2015 landmark Iran nuclear deal last May and re-imposed crippling sanctions on Tehran which the Iranians have described as ‘economic terrorism’.
Iran already suspended two of its main nuclear deal commitments in early May deal as a response to the tightening of the economic sanctions on its energy, banking, finance and shipping industries.
Meeting with his Turkish counterpart in the city of Isfahan, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Friday that Iran was to begin its second stage of suspending its commitment under Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on July 7.
