Trump Claims US Confident It Downed Iranian Drone Despite IRGC's Video Evidence It Didn't

Earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released a video of the USS Boxer amphibious assault ship taken from an Iranian drone that the US earlier claimed had been downed by the military vessel.

The US is confident that it downed an Iranian drone on Thursday, President Donald Trump has said, as quoted by Reuters.

Mr Trump added that the US is ready to respond to any other provocations.

Earlier on Friday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released footage of the USS Boxer amphibious assault ship taken from an Iranian drone that the US earlier claimed had been downed by the military vessel. The video was published as proof that it had safely returned to its airbase.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that an American ship had destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after it had ignored warnings. Tehran did not confirm that the incident took place and later denied that it had lost any drones.

An Iranian made drone

© AP Photo / Jamejam Online, Chavosh Homavandi

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been escalating over the past few months after the US unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions against Iran's oil sector. 

The US has blamed several incidents that took place in the Gulf of Oman in May and June, including attacks on oil tankers, on Iran, but Tehran has denied any involvement.