Tehran yesterday denied that the US had downed one of its drones, saying all Iranian aircraft were accounted for and jesting that Washington might have accidentally hit its own machine.
The latest incident in the strategic Strait of Hormuz comes amid soaring tensions between the two foes, with Washington already reeling from Iran shooting down one of its drones last month.
US President Donald Trump said that a US naval vessel downed an Iranian drone on Thursday that threatened the ship as it was entering the Strait — a claim vehemently denied by Tehran.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Iran’s armed forces dismissed Trump’s assertion as “baseless and delusional.”
“All of [Iran’s] drones ... have safely returned to their bases,” Iranian armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said.
“There have been no reports of a confrontation with the American USS Boxer” naval vessel, he added.
Trump on Thursday said that the USS Boxer “took defensive action” against an Iranian aircraft as it was “threatening the safety” of the vessel and its crew.
The Pentagon said the ship “was in international waters” when a drone approached.
However, Iranian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi said that such an incident had never taken place, saying the Islamic republic had not lost any aircraft.
“I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own [drone] by mistake,” Araghchi tweeted yesterday.
The confrontation comes after Tehran shot down a US surveillance drone last month that it said was flying in its airspace, a claim denied by the US.
Trump said he called off retaliatory strikes at the last minute following the incident.
Iran has in turn denied US accusations that it was behind a series of tanker attacks off the United Arab Emirates coast and the Gulf of Oman.
The tanker troubles further intensified on July 4, when Gibraltar detained an Iranian vessel with the help of Britain’s Royal Marines.
US officials believed the tanker was destined for Syria to deliver oil, in contravention of separate sets of EU and US sanctions.
Iran branded the seizure “piracy” and a week later London said that Iranian boats menaced a British tanker in the Gulf before they were driven off by a Royal Navy frigate.
That led to US calls for an international flotilla to escort vessels from Gulf oil fields through the Strait of Hormuz.
The incidents have raised fears of a regional conflict involving the US and its allies in the Gulf region, through which nearly one-third of the world’s oil is transported.
The top commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said it was not seeking to “initiate a war,” but would respond to hostilities.
“If enemies make a mistake in calculation, our defensive strategy and all our capacities will change to offensive,” General Hossein Salami said.
His comments came after the Guards on Thursday said that they had seized a “foreign tanker” believed to be the Panamanian-flagged vessel Riah and its crew.
The Revolutionary Guards accused the ship of smuggling Iranian fuel.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique