Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its air defense forces intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-1 Predator reconnaissance and combat drone over Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, calling it the 17th American MQ-1 downed and a repeated failure of reconnaissance missions. The claim followed Friday’s announcement by Iran’s army that its navy shot down another US MQ-1 drone near Kuhestak off the coast of Sirik in southern Iran using its integrated air defense network.
Earlier Friday, US Central Command rejected an IRGC assertion that Iranian aerospace forces had destroyed an American early warning radar installation in Bahrain in retaliation for a strike on a telecommunications tower in Sirik. CENTCOM said the IRGC launched two one-way attack drones toward Bahrain and US forces shot down both with no injuries or damage.


