TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s armed forces brought down a U.S. drone that officials said had violated the country’s airspace along the eastern border, Iranian media reported Sunday.
The aircraft suffered minor damage and was in the possession of the armed forces, according to an Iranian military official quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
NATO’s U.S.-led force in neighboring Afghanistan said Iranian authorities might be referring to an unarmed U.S. reconnaissance plane that went missing during a mission in western Afghanistan late last week.
Some initial reports out of Iran suggested the drone had been shot down. But the semi- official Fars news agency, which is close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, quoted a military official as saying that Iran’s electronic-cyberwarfare unit had managed to take control of the aircraft and bring it “under their possession.” The official told Fars that Iran’s response “will not be limited to the country’s borders.”
Iranian news agencies did not immediately publish images of the allegedly downed craft.
Meanwhile Sunday, The New York Times reported that the huge explosion that destroyed a major missile-testing site near Tehran three weeks ago was a major setback for Iran’s most advanced long- range missile program, according to U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials and missile- technology experts.
In interviews, current and former officials said surveillance photos showed that the Iranian base was a central testing center for advanced solid- fuel missiles, an assessment backed by outside experts who have examined satellite photos showing that the base was almost completely destroyed in the blast. Such missiles can be launched almost instantly, making them useful to Iran as a potential deterrent against pre- emptive attacks by Israel or the United States. Solid-fuel missiles are also easier to hide and are better suited than older liquid-fuel designs for carrying warheads over long distances.
It is still unclear what caused the explosion, with U.S. officials saying they believe it was likely an accident, perhaps because of Iran’s inexperience with a volatile, dangerous technology. Iran declared it an accident, but some Iranian officials have talked of sabotage.
