Iranian TV on Friday aired footage of what it says is the wreckage from the US drone that it shot down Thursday.
The imagery suggests that Tehran got hold of the fragments before the US was able to recover it.
Iran’s IRIB news agency showed the charred fragments spread across a room. It’s not immediately clear where the footage was taken.
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The news report also featured an Iranian news anchor interviewing a general of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which shot down the drone before dawn on Thursday.
Watch the report below:
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Iran on Thursday said it shot down the US drone because it had entered Iranian airspace.
Washington has accused Tehran of lying, and said instead that the drone was actually in international airspace.
The Pentagon says the drone fragments are in international waters near the Strait of Hormoz. ABC News reported the US Navy as saying on Thursday that it was working to recover the drone debris.
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif rejected the claim, saying on Twitter on that the United States is lying over its drone being hit in international waters, saying Tehran will take the matter to the United Nations.
The American drone that was shot down had taken off from the United Arab Emirates.
“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. We’ve retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down,” Zarif said.
Earlier, Trump made his first statement on the incident on Twitter, only writing, “Iran made a very big mistake!” In May 2019, Trump had warned Iran about threatening the United States, “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”
“Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false,” said Navy Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for the U.S. military’s Central Command.
