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IRAN SAYS IT DECODED, RELEASED FOOTAGE FROM DOWNED U.S. DRONE
February 7, 2013 - 15:58 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran says it has decoded and released footage from
a U.S. drone that it downed more than a year ago, according to CNN.
The black and white aerial footage, Iran claims was from a RQ-170
spy plane, was aired by Iranian news agencies and placed on YouTube.
A man, identified in Iranian media as Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, narrates parts of the
footage. "This aircraft has carried out many operations in the
countries around Iran," the narrator says. "In the operations taken
place in Pakistan, this aircraft guided many of the clashes ..."
The narrator also says that some of the footage shows the drone near
Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.
Iran had said it downed the drone on December 4, 2011 near Kashmar
in the country's northeast, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) from the
border with Afghanistan.
At the time, U.S. officials acknowledged that the drone was missing
and President Barack Obama asked Iran to return it.
"We've asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," Obama
said later that month. At the time Iranian military officials vowed
not to return the plane.
This claim from Tehran comes at the same time that the U.S. drone
program is being heavily debated in Washington.
John Brennan, Obama's pick to head the CIA, has been one of the
architects of the drone campaign against al Qaeda and its allies for
the last four years.
Senators will get to grill on him Thursday at his confirmation hearing.
Also Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee will receive
a classified drone policy document that seeks to justify the
administration's policy of targeting Americans overseas via drone
attacks, a topic that has stirred controversies recently.
February 7, 2013 - 15:58 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran says it has decoded and released footage from
a U.S. drone that it downed more than a year ago, according to CNN.
The black and white aerial footage, Iran claims was from a RQ-170
spy plane, was aired by Iranian news agencies and placed on YouTube.
A man, identified in Iranian media as Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, narrates parts of the
footage. "This aircraft has carried out many operations in the
countries around Iran," the narrator says. "In the operations taken
place in Pakistan, this aircraft guided many of the clashes ..."
The narrator also says that some of the footage shows the drone near
Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.
Iran had said it downed the drone on December 4, 2011 near Kashmar
in the country's northeast, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) from the
border with Afghanistan.
At the time, U.S. officials acknowledged that the drone was missing
and President Barack Obama asked Iran to return it.
"We've asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," Obama
said later that month. At the time Iranian military officials vowed
not to return the plane.
This claim from Tehran comes at the same time that the U.S. drone
program is being heavily debated in Washington.
John Brennan, Obama's pick to head the CIA, has been one of the
architects of the drone campaign against al Qaeda and its allies for
the last four years.
Senators will get to grill on him Thursday at his confirmation hearing.
Also Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee will receive
a classified drone policy document that seeks to justify the
administration's policy of targeting Americans overseas via drone
attacks, a topic that has stirred controversies recently.