American officials have acknowledged that an unmanned U.S. reconnaissance plane was lost on a mission late last week, but have insisted that there is no evidence the drone was downed by hostile acts by Iran. Rather, they said, the drone likely went down because of a malfunction, and they implied the advanced stealth reconnaissance plane would have fallen from a high altitude. The RQ-170 Sentinel can fly as high as 50,000 feet, and as a result, wouldn't be in good shape.
Iranian military officials have claimed since Sunday they brought down an intact American spy drone and now they are giving video tours of what looks to be a drone in apparently good condition.
"On Sunday December 4, the Iranian Army's electronic warfare unit downed the US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft which was flying over the Iranian city of Kashmar, some 140 miles from the Afghan border," Iran's Press TV said in its report Thursday.
The Pentagon is declining to comment on the images.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the RQ-170 was lost while making the latest run over Iran during an extended CIA surveillance effort of Iran's nuclear and ballistic weapons program.
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