The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed on Sunday that it shot down an American MQ-9A Reaper drone over Asaluyeh Airport in southern Iran, according to an Israeli journalist. The report includes a video; the journalist expressed uncertainty about whether the footage depicts the claimed drone. The claim comes hours after a separate Iranian report of three MQ-9 drones downed in the same region.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed Sunday morning that it shot down a US MQ-9A Reaper drone over Asaluyeh Airport in southern Iran, according to Israeli journalist Or Ben Yehezkel. The report, which includes a video of the interception, specifies the location of the downed drone — a detail absent from earlier claims. The journalist noted that the footage may not depict the claimed drone.
At 09:57 Jerusalem, multiple Iranian reports emerged: the IRGC claimed a downing over Ahvaz using a new air defense system; a separate claim described it as the 30th such drone downed; an unverified report said one MQ-9 was downed overnight without a location; and a fourth report claimed three MQ-9s were downed in the Asaluyeh, Ahvaz, and Dehloran areas. The three-drones report was reiterated at 13:06 Jerusalem. All claims are single-sourced and unverified; the United States has not commented on any of them.
The Zioneer has previously reported on numerous IRGC claims of downing US MQ-9 drones, including over the Strait of Hormuz, Karbala, Khormuj, Andimeshk, and Tehran, among other locations. Each of those claims also relied on a single source and lacked independent confirmation.
The journalist's caveat about the video further tempers the credibility of the new report. As with all previous claims in this thread, the downing remains unverified and unsupported by any US or independent confirmation.
5 developments
- DevelopingMQ-9 Reaper drone reportedly intercepted by Iranian air defenses over Isfahan
- DevelopingIranian TV: Revolutionary Guards shoot down US spy drone over Tehran
- DevelopingIranian IRGC-affiliated media report interception of US MQ-9 drone over Khormuj, Bushehr
- DevelopingIRGC claims it shot down US MQ-9 drone over Andimeshk, Khuzestan
Source and signal
- Internal intake