Late on Wednesday evening, Iran military shot down a US military drone using a surface-to-air missile, on the basis that it had violated Iranian airspace near Kuhmobarak.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard described the incident as a justified downing of a U.S. “spy” drone, and General Hossein Salami said this was a “clear warning” to America to back down. He added that although Iran did “not have any intention for war with any other country, we are ready for war”.
The US military argued that the drone was in international airspace, and deemed it an “unprovoked attack on a US surveillance asset”.
This incident comes amid escalating tensions over alleged Iranian attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz last week. The attack took place in the Gulf of Oman, against a Japanese tanker and Norwegian tanker, which were carrying petrochemicals from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to Singapore and Taiwan.
The U.S. Navy accused Iran of being behind the attack and sent in 1,000 troops to the Middle East, in response to what it said was “hostile behaviour” by Iranian forces.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this assessment was based on the “intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication”.
Following the tanker attacks in the Gulf, Foreign Secretary Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP, said that the government was “almost certain” that Iran was behind these tanker attacks, after an assessment by the British intelligence services.
Iran has vehemently denied these accusations, and argued that the United States and its allies, Israel, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, were carrying out “acts of sabotage” against the two tankers in an effort to pressure Tehran.
It is likely that these attacks could be a response to the United States’ aggressive economic sanctions which have managed to bring down Iran’s oil exports by more than a third. American intelligence agencies believe that the perception of a threat to their economy may have driven Iran to desire to create higher uncertainty about the Gulf, in order to drive up the price of oil.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised the government for accusing Iran for the attacks without “credible evidence” and claimed this rhetoric risked escalating conflict with Tehran.
Mr Hunt said that Corbyn’s response was “pathetic and predictable”, and that Corbyn could “never bring himself back to British allies, British intelligence or British interests”.
