Iran denies US destroyed an Iranian drone near Persian Gulf

Iran on Friday denied President Donald Trump’s statement that a U.S. warship destroyed an Iranian drone near Persian Gulf after it threatened ship — an incident that marked a new escalation of tensions between countries less than a month after Iran downed an American drone in same waterway and Trump came close to retaliating with a military strike.

Iranian military said all its drones h returned safely to ir bases and denied re was any confrontation with a U.S. vessel previous day.

“We have t lost any drone in Strait of Hormuz r anywhere else,” tweeted Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

strait is at mouth of Persian Gulf and serves as passway for a fifth of all global crude exports; a clash re highlights risk of war between Iran and U.S.

Trump on July 18 said USS Boxer took defensive action after an Iranian drone closed to within 1,000 yards of warship and igred multiple calls to stand down.

Trump blamed Iran for a “provocative and hostile” action and said U.S. responded in self-defense. Iran’s foreign minister, Mohamm Jav Zarif, told reporters as he arrived for a meeting at United Nations that “we have information about losing a drone today.”

After Trump pulled U.S. out of Iran nuclear deal last year and imposed ecomic sanctions on Tehran, Iranians have pushed back on military front, shooting down a U.S. drone on June 20.

Also in past weeks, Persian Gulf region has seen six attacks on oil tankers that U.S. has blamed on Iran, and a tense encounter between Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and British navy. Iran has denied involvement in attacks or British naval encounter.

U.S. has also sent thousands of ditional troops and increased its security presence in region.

ding to ecomic pressure on Tehran, Treasury Department said Thursday it was imposing sanctions on what it called a network of front companies and nts involved in helping Iran buy sensitive materials for its nuclear program. It said targeted individuals and entities are based in Iran, China and Belgium.

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Pentagon said July 18 incident happened at 10 a.m. local time in international waters while Boxer was transiting waterway to enter Persian Gulf. Boxer is among several U.S. Navy ships in area, including USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has been operating in nearby rth Arabian Sea for weeks.

Neir Trump r Pentagon spelled out how Boxer destroyed drone. CNN reported that ship used electronic jamming to bring it down rar than hitting it with a missile.

In Tehran, semi-official Tasnim news ncy quoted military spokesman Gen. Abolfazl Shekari as saying that “all Iranian drones that are in Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, including one which U.S. president mentioned, after carrying out scheduled identification and control missions, have returned to ir bases.”

Iranians and Americans have h close encounters in Strait of Hormuz in past, and it’s t unprecedented for Iran to fly a drone near a U.S. warship.

In December, about 30 Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels trailed USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier and its strike group through strait as Associated Press journalists on board watched. One small vessel launched what appeared to be a commercial-gre drone to film U.S. ships.

Or transits have seen Iranians fire rockets away from American warships or test-fire ir machine guns. Guard’s small fast boats often cut in front of massive carriers, running dangerously close to running into m in “swarm attacks.” Guard boats are often armed with bomb-carrying drones and sea-to-sea and surface-to-sea missiles.

July 18 incident was latest in a series of events that raised U.S.-Iran tensions since early May when Washington accused Tehran of threatening U.S. forces and interests in Iraq and in Gulf.

In response, U.S. accelerated deployment of Lincoln and its strike group to Arabian Sea and deployed four B-52 long-range bombers to Gulf state of Qatar. It has since deployed ditional Patriot air defense missile batteries in Gulf region.

Shortly after Iran shot down a U.S. Navy drone aircraft in June, Trump ordered a retaliatory military strike but called it off at last moment, saying risk of casualties was disproportionate to downing by Iran, which did t cost any U.S. lives.

Iran claimed U.S. drone violated its air; Pentagon denied this.

Zarif said on July 18 that Iran and U.S. were only “a few minutes away from a war” after Iran downed American drone. He spoke to U.S.-based media on sidelines of his visit to U.N.

“We live in a very dangerous environment,” he said. “ United States has pushed itself and rest of world into probably brink of an abyss.”

Zarif blamed Washington for escalation and accused Trump ministration of “trying to starve our people” and “deplete our treasury” through ecomic sanctions.

Earlier on July 18, Iran said Revolutionary Guard seized a foreign oil tanker and its crew of 12 for smuggling fuel out of country, and hours later released video showing vessel to be a United Arab Emirates-based ship that h vanished in Iranian waters over weekend.

anuncement cleared up fate of missing ship but raised a host of or questions and heightened worries about free flow of traffic in Strait of Hormuz, one of world’s most critical petroleum shipping routes. One-fifth of global crude exports pass through strait.

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