The NATO-led military force in Afghanistan said that a drone which Iran reported shooting down in its territory “may” belong to the United States.
“The UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to which the Iranians are referring may be a US unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week,” the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
“The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status.”
Iran’s military has said it shot down a US Army drone inside its territory near the Afghan and Pakistani borders and is threatening to retaliate, Iranian media reported.
The Al-Alam Arabic language satellite channel, quoting a military source in Iran’s joint chiefs of staff, said late Sunday the RQ-170 UAV was shot down “a few hours ago”.
The Fars news agency quoted a source saying the drone had “briefly” made an incursion into Iran’s eastern airspace.
The unnamed military source warned that Iran’s armed response would “not be limited to our country’s borders” for the “blatant territorial violation”.