Tehran: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said late Monday that its air defence systems had intercepted three US drones in the country’s southern airspace.
The IRGC identified two of the unmanned aerial vehicles as MQM-170 Outlaw drones, which it said were intercepted over Qeshm Island, and the third as an MQ-9 Reaper, shot down in waters east of the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States attacked Iran’s strategic Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials.
The attacks were the latest in “a series of limited strikes Washington has secretly carried out against the country in recent weeks as President Trump touted the possibility of a diplomatic deal,” the journal said.
The United States has been conducting smaller-scale strikes against Iran for several weeks, with explosions reported on social media around Qeshm Island on Monday, according to the report. Some US officials described the attacks as defensive operations aimed at preventing Iran from freely attacking commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Unlike earlier in the conflict, the United States has not publicly announced the attacks, the report said. Washington has deliberately kept the campaign under wraps to avoid signalling any intention of resuming major combat operations, one US official was quoted as saying.
Trump said that he was “in no rush” to decide whether to resume military action against Iran. “One way or the other, we will do something, but there is no rush. We crippled them financially. They have no money, no gasoline and their people are getting very tired of it,” he said in a phone interview with Axios on Monday.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said diplomatic efforts had intensified, but warned that further US military escalation would draw a “far more bitter and severe” response, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Several explosions were reported by Iranian media early Tuesday on Qeshm Island. The blasts of unknown nature were also heard by residents in the southern Hengam Island and the port city of Bandar Abbas, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
(IANS)
