US official confirms Iran shot down US drone in Gulf

By Vakkas Dogantekin

ANKARA (AA) - An American official who spoke on condition of anonymity told ABC News Thursday that Iran shot down a U.S. military drone over the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile while the reconnaissance drone was flying in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the official told ABC News.

The confirmation comes amid growing hostility in the Gulf region between Washington and Tehran .

Iran's state-run Press TV as well as its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced earlier that the U.S.-made RQ-4 Global Hawk "spy drone" was shot down in the country's coastal province of Hormozgan, near the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC said in an online statement it shot down the aircraft after it entered Iranian airspace in the country's south.

The U.S. military initially denied the report.

"No U.S. aircraft were operating in Iranian airspace today," said Navy Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Central Command.

Tensions have been rising between the U.S. and Iran since last year, when Washington unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

The Trump administration said Monday it would send 1,000 additional troops to the Gulf region in the wake of escalating tensions.

Top U.S. officials, including the president, blamed Iran for conducting attacks against oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

Tehran has denied the allegations.