IRGC says it destroyed US MQ-9 drone near Qeshm Island

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that its air defense forces shot down a United States MQ-9 drone over Qeshm Island. In a statement, the IRGC said the aircraft was detected at 10:12 a.m. local time while it was violating Iranian airspace in the general area of Qeshm Island.

The statement described the drone as an advanced model belonging to what it called the "terrorist" US military. According to the IRGC, the aircraft was destroyed by fire from its new aerospace air defense systems. The interception and destruction, the statement added, was carried out within the country's integrated air defense network and relied on domestically produced radar and missile systems.

The IRGC did not provide further details about the type of missile used, the exact location of the interception, or the number of air defense units involved. There was no immediate comment from US officials on the Iranian claim.

Qeshm Island is located in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a significant portion of global oil shipments passes. The area has previously seen similar incidents involving US drones and Iranian air defenses.

According to Mehr News, the IRGC statement said the drone was detected at 10:12 a.m. and was destroyed by the IRGC's new aerospace air defense systems operating within Iran's integrated air defense network.