"We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else. I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own UAS [Unmanned Aerial System] by mistake!", Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Twitter, referring to the recent incident.
In the meantime, the Iranian military has announced that all of its unmanned aircraft safely returned to base, Tasnim News agency reported.
The claims about the Iranian drone come amid another escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran.
This is the #US electronic warfare weapon used in an alleged takedown of #Iran #drone, report says https://t.co/kfT6JkBp9R pic.twitter.com/e9h20h5YmB
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) July 19, 2019
Several oil tankers have reportedly been attacked in the Middle East, so the US and allies rushed to accuse the Islamic Republic of organising those incidents.
Later, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps downed an American unmanned aircraft, saying it had violated Iranian airspace. The United States was reportedly ready to undertake a retaliatory operation against Iran, but President Trump said he had cancelled it ten minutes before the start.