TEHRAN – The Iranian forces have perpetrated a failed missile attack on aUS drone hours before the tankers incident in the Gulf of Oman, US mediareported, citing a source.
The CNN reported on Friday, citing a US official, that the US MQ-9 Reaperreconnaissance drone observed Iranian vessels close to the affected tankersprior to the incident that happened on Thursday.
The Iranian forces reportedly detected the drone and fired a surface-to-airmissile at it. The missile, however, missed the vehicle and fell into thewater.
The same source told CNN that two days prior to the Thursday’s incident,another US drone had been downed in the Red Sea by an alleged Iranianmissile fired by the Yemeni Houthi rebel movement.
On Thursday, two oil tankers, Kokuka Courageous and Front Altair, sufferedexplosions and fires in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz. Whilethe causes of the incident remain unknown, the United States claimedthat Iran had attacked the vessels. However, Washington had not providedany evidence to support its claims.
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The US military subsequently released a video showing alleged Iranianforces removing an unexploded mine from one of the tankers. The footage,however, did not show any boat names or flags that could help substantiatethe claims.
Iran has denied all the allegations of having a role in the incident.Moscow called for an investigation into the incident, calling for avoidingmaking hasty conclusions on the issue.
