JUNE 22, 2019
DUBAI —Iran’s Foreign Minister Saturday posted new maps on Twitter he said offered further details on “the path, location and point of impact” of the U.S. Navy surveillance drone shot down by Iran earlier this week.
“There can be no doubt about where the vessel was when it was brought down,” Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter alongside images he said listed the coordinates of the drone as it flew over the Strait of Hormuz.
The US wages #EconomicTerrorism on Iran, has conducted covert action against us & now encroaches on our territory.
We don’t seek war, but will zealously defend our skies, land & waters.
We’ll take this new aggression to #UN & show that the US is lying about international waters
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 20, 2019
Iran says that the drone, a RQ-4A Global Hawk, was targeted after penetrating Iranian airspace early Thursday — a claim U.S. military officials deny.
The aircraft was flying over international waters in the strait, where two commercial tankers were attacked with explosives last week.
President Trump authorized a military strike on Iran in response to the downing of the aircraft, but abruptly aborted the mission late Thursday, citing a potentially high casualty count.
Tensions have spiked in the Persian Gulf region in recent weeks following a string of assaults on commercial vessels there.
The Trump administration has blamed Iran for the attacks, which damaged six ships in the waters off the Emirati port of Fujairah. Iran has denied involvement.
Courtesy/Source: Washington Post
