Iran downs unidentified drone near Gulf coast

Debris of a US drone it shot down over the Gulf in June on display in a special exhibition in Tehran

TEHRAN AFP, 8 Nov, 2019-  Iran shot down an unidentified drone near the port of Bandar-e Mahshahr on the Gulf coast on Friday, Iranian media reported, four and a half months after the downing of a US drone nearly triggered air strikes.   

The army downed the unmanned aircraft over Khuzestan province before dawn using a Mersad surface-to-air missile, said the Tasnim news agency, which is close to Iran’s ultra-conservatives.   

Citing provincial governor Gholamreza Shariati, it reported that the army had located the wreckage of the drone in a marshy area and opened an inquiry into the incident.   

It later said the drone could have been an Iranian model downed during nighttime exercises to test missile systems.   

The accidential crash of an Iranian drone in the same province on October 23 prompted newspaper reports that an unidentified foreign aircraft had been shot down.