Iran fired on an unarmed U.S. drone last week as it was hovering in international airspace, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
Spokesman George Little said the incident, which marks the first time
the Iranians have fired on a U.S. drone, occurred Nov. 1 at 4:50 a.m.
ET. He said the unarmed, unmanned drone was conducting "routine
surveillance" over the Persian Gulf when it was "intercepted" by Iran.
He said the MQ1 Predator drone, which was not hit, was not in Iranian
airspace.
According to Little, two Iranian jets fired twice, missing on both
attempts -- the drone headed away from the Iranian coast, landing safely
soon after at an undisclosed location. The Iranian jets pursued the
drone for a short period before giving up.
Little said the U.S. government has protested to the Iranians. Asked
about how the U.S. could respond, he said: "We have a wide range of
options from diplomatic to military."
He would not say whether there were actually plans for a military
response. Asked if this should be considered an act of war, Little said
he didn't want to get into "legal characterizations" of the event.
Little stressed that the drone was flying 16 nautical miles off the
coast of Kuwait in international waters, and never entered the 12-mile
limit that would constitute Iranian territory. (Continues)
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