The tensions between the U.S. and Iran remain high (Image via: CNN)

U.S. Strikes Iranian Drone, Called It A Defense

President Donald Trump made a statement in the East Room of the White House about U.S. brought down Iranian drone on Thursday. The drone flew over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said the drone was located within 1,000 yards of the USS Boxer warship and threatened its safety. He also mentioned that the drone ignored multiple warnings after being told to stand down. Therefore, USS Boxer destroyed it through electronic jamming. Trump went further to condemn Iran’s action and call it provocative, as well as hostile. He urged all nations to join U.S. to condemn Iran too for violating navigation freedom and global commerce in the strait.

Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman, stated that USS boxer took an action as a defense, but not mentioning if the drone was Iran’s. He called it instead as “a fixed-wing unmanned aerial system”. Hoffman also stated the incident happened at 10 a.m. local time. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded that Iran doesn’t have information about losing a drone.

The tension has been heightened between Iran and U.S. So it is unavoidable for the two nations to blame each other. The conflict started with Trump’s decision last year to resigned from a 2015 multilateral nuclear deal with Iran. Trump also imposed an oil and banking embargo on Iran. On the other hand, Iran had shoot down U.S. drone in the same waterway. The incident that triggered Trump to almost launch a missile strike, which he eventually called off at last minute. The questions are started to come up about the free flow traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Those are related to the seizing a foreign oil tanker and its crew for smuggling fuel out of the country by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. However, the Iranian Foreign Minister said that the incident was a part of routine based on policy against maritime smuggling.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/18/trump-us-warship-iran-drone-strait-of-hormuz