Iranian Jets Fire At American Drone

International

Iranian Jets Fire At American Drone

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| Ahmadinejad, International, Iran, Iran sanctions, iranian jets, Obama drones, persian gulf, U.S. drones, unmanned drones

Michael Juliani |

November 8, 2012 | 6:38 p.m. PST

Executive Producer

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Obama's use of unmanned drones has drawn scrutiny from some. (Flickr Creative Commons)

Two Iranian fighter jets fired at an unarmed United States drone in the Persian Gulf on November 1, according to CNN.  The Pentagon disclosed that the drone was doing routine maritime surveillance in international airspace 16 miles off the Iranian coast. 
The Iranian jets didn't hit the drone, but the attack raises new questions about President Obama's use of unmanned drones as well as Iran's willingness to use force.
"Our aircraft was never in Iranian airspace.  It was flying in international air space.  The recognized limit is 12 nautical miles off the coast and we never entered the 12 nautical mile limit," said Pentagon Press Secretary George Little.
According to Fox News, the Iranian jets trailed the drone for a short period before the drone landed safely at an undisclosed location.  The jets fired beneath the drone.  U.S. military intelligence remains unsure if the Iranian pilots didn't hit the drone because of lack of skill or because they had no intention of bringing it down. 
One official said, "It doesn't matter, they fired on us."
The United States has levied crippling sanctions against Iran that have severely injured the country's economy.  Fox News also reported that the Iranian regime received news of President Obama's re-election with stern warning that the United States should not expect any renewed negotiations.

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage of Iran here.
Reach Executive Producer Michael Juliani here.

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Iranian Jets Fire At American Drone

It was said on CNN TV that the reason the Pentagon is letting this information out to the news is as a warning to Iran that if they actually shoot down a U.S. Drone in International Airspace not over their country we have the right to return fire by whatever means necessary.

So, it is important not to underestimate what the Pentagon is saying by having this information go public.