Iran Shoots Down U.S. Drone

Iran shot down a U.S. drone on Thursday, with Iran saying the drone had entered Iranian airspace and the U.S. saying that the drone was shot down in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz. Both regimes have a history of lying, and both have a vested interest in their version being true, so there are no good actors in this dispute.

[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link.] Luis Martinez at ABC News reports:

Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, offered a strongly worded threat to the U.S. after the drone was downed.

"Shooting down the American spy drone had a clear, decisive, firm and accurate message," he said, translated from Farsi. "The message is that the guardians of the borders of Islamic Iran will decisively respond to the violation of any stranger to this land. The only solution for the enemies is to respect the territorial integrity and national interests of Iran."

"We do not intend to engage in war with any country, but we are completely ready for the war. Today's incident is a clear sign of this accurate message," Salami added.

..."Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false," said CENTCOM spokesperson Navy Capt. Bill Urban in a statement on Thursday morning. "This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace."

Urban said the RQ-4A Global Hawk, which "provides real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions," was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz at approximately 11:35 p.m. GMT on June 19.

The piece calls the drone downing "a major provocation," but it's only a "major provocation" if Donald Trump, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, et. al. allow themselves to be provoked. Which of course they will, because they (at least two of them) want a war.

But the downing of an unmanned drone, even in international airspace, does not need to cause an incident at all, no less a war. We must be clear on that. No matter what the Trump Regime might say otherwise, this does not require a military response.