Iran releases VIDEO of US drone shoot-down

Video footage of Iran’s air defenses shooting down a high-altitude US Navy surveillance drone has been posted on social media by the Iranian military. It shows the missile launch and an explosion at the moment of interception.

The brief clip, filmed early Thursday morning and set to rousing music, shows a surface-to-air missile launch from an Iranian battery and the explosion of a target in the sky, said to be the ill-fated US spy drone.

The Pentagon released its own footage of the shootdown earlier on Thursday – a 15-second black and white video showing what looks to be a trail of smoke from a descending aircraft, and little else.

Neither video definitively clarifies whether the shootdown took place over international waters or within Iranian airspace, which is a point of contention between Washington and Tehran. The Iranian video at least appears to confirm that it was a missile fired from the shore that did it.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) deemed the incident an “unprovoked attack” in a statement on Thursday, and denied that the drone was flying over Iranian territory at the time of the strike

“You’ll soon find out,” US President Donald Trump said, when asked by a reporter if Washington would respond in kind.

Tehran maintains the US drone violated its airspace, and has vowed to take all necessary precautions to protect itself if attacked.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted out the precise coordinates of where the drone met its demise, well within Iranian territorial waters. He added that sections of the downed US drone had been collected from the ocean.

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