On
Friday, Tehran denied the United States had downed one of its drones, saying
all Iranian aircraft were accounted for and jesting Washington may have
accidentally hit their own machine.
The latest incident in the strategic Strait of Hormuz comes amid
soaring tensions between the two foes, with Washington already reeling
from Iran shooting down one of its drones last month.
US President Donald Trump said an American naval vessel downed an
Iranian drone on Thursday that threatened the ship as it was entering
the Strait — a claim vehemently denied by Tehran.
Iran’s armed forces dismissed Trump’s assertion as “baseless and delusional”.
“All of (Iran’s) drones… have safely returned to their bases,” said armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi.
“There have been no reports of a confrontation with the American USS Boxer” naval vessel, he added, quoted by Tasnim.
Trump said Thursday the USS Boxer “took defensive action” against an
Iranian aircraft as it was “threatening the safety” of the vessel and
its crew.
The Pentagon said the ship “was in international waters” when a drone approached.
“The ship took defensive action against the UAS to ensure the safety
of the ship and its crew,” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said.
But Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said such an
incident had never taken place, saying the Islamic republic had not lost
any aircraft.
“I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own (drone) by mistake!” Abbas Araghchi tweeted Friday.
Iran detains tanker
The confrontation comes after Tehran shot down an American surveillance
drone in June it said was flying in its airspace, a claim denied by the
United States.
Trump said he called off retaliatory strikes at the last minute following the incident.
Iran has, in turn, refuted US accusations that it was behind a series
of recent tanker attacks off the United Arab Emirates coast and the
Gulf of Oman.
The tanker troubles further intensified on July 4, when Gibraltar
detained an Iranian vessel with the help of British Royal Marines.
US officials believed the tanker was destined for Syria to deliver
oil, in violation of separate sets of European Union and US sanctions.
Iran furiously branded the seizure “piracy”, and one week later,
London said Iranian boats menaced a British tanker in the Gulf before
they were driven off by a Royal Navy frigate.
That led to US calls for an international flotilla to escort
hydrocarbon-laden vessels from Gulf oil fields through the Hormuz
Strait.
The incidents have raised fears of a regional conflict involving the
US and its allies in the Gulf region, through which nearly a third of
the world’s oil is transported.
The top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ said they were not
seeking to “initiate a war” but would respond to hostilities.
“If enemies make a mistake in calculation, our defensive strategy and
all our capacities will change to offensive,” said General Hossein
Salami, quoted by the force’s Sepahnews website.
His comments came after the Guards said Thursday they had seized a
“foreign tanker” believed to be the Panamanian-flagged vessel Riah and
its crew.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accuse the ship of smuggling Iranian fuel.
‘Psychological pressure’
US Central Command chief Kenneth McKenzie pledged Thursday to work
“aggressively” with partners to ensure freedom of navigation in Gulf
waters.
But the Guards’ deputy chief said the United States will soon realise “it is not in its interest at all to stay in the region”.
US forces are under mounting “psychological pressure” in the Gulf, Brigadier-General Ali Fadavi was quoted by Tasnim as saying.
The drone incident comes amid a threatened breakdown of the 2015 Iran
nuclear deal, with Washington steadily ratcheting up economically
debilitating sanctions on Tehran a year after unilaterally quitting the
deal.
Earlier this month, Tehran purposely surpassed the deal’s caps on
uranium enrichment, aiming to pressure the remaining parties to make
good on their promises to support Iran economically.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if Tehran’s oil exports are blocked through sanctions.
Last month Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Iran was keeping
up sales through “unconventional” means to circumvent the US measures.
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