Iran Hits U.S. Spy Plane: Report

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that was trying to gather information on an underground uranium enrichment site, a state-owned news site said Wednesday.

Lawmaker Ali Aghazadeh Dafsari said the drone was flying over the Fordo uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom in central Iran, the state TV-run Youth Journalists Club said.

The report did not say when the plane was shot down.

Iran is locked in a dispute with the U.S. and its allies over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, which the West believes aims to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity and producing isotopes to treat medical patients.

Long kept secret, the Fordo site is built next to a military complex to protect it in case of attack. Iran only acknowledged Fordo's existence after Western intelligence agencies identified it in September 2009. The facility is reportedly located 295 feet (90 meters) underneath a mountain.

Iran says it is planning to install advanced centrifuges at Fordo to speed up its nuclear activities.

U.S. nuclear experts say by increasing the enrichment level and its stock of nearly 20 percent low-enriched uranium, Iran could reach a "break out" capability that would allow it to make enough weapon-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon.

Iran has claimed to shoot down U.S. spy planes in the past. Earlier this month, Iranian military officials showed Russian experts several U.S. drones they said were shot down in recent years.

Comments

[Baghooli]

11:32 PM on 07/22/2011

Taking for a ride through misinformation freeway!
Recent news, so far no drone have been shutdown over Iran lately, warmongers should get off Cocaine!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/22/iran-denies-shooting-spy-plane_n_906972.html

[bbjohnson752]

09:58 PM on 07/22/2011

there they go censoring me again

[cliffhammond]

06:11 AM on 07/22/2011

The only effective argument against Iran will come from a nuclear disarmed Israel.

[tomfunker]

06:26 PM on 07/21/2011

who cares if they make nukes? lets sell nukes to every country and be done with it.remember Nixon? mutually assured destruction ? Hmmm ?
pop off a nuke and your screwed sideways to radioactivity.
Ta Daaa
no problem
the drones are interesting but a bit of a joke
satallites can be disrupted and so can the radio signals
still? why dont we quit all this BS type fighting and go to a nudie bar.
i will buy the first round.

[sks2000]

04:04 PM on 07/21/2011

And that why we use drones, think how world history could have changed with we replaced Gary Power's U2 with a unnamed drone. All the Iranians have is a pile of aluminum, not a US pilot, not to mention we still have a factory here in the USA to make lots more drones.

[Edward Watters]

11:25 AM on 07/21/2011

Well, there goes another five or ten million dollars out of our pockets for no good reason. We should send the bill to AIPAC.

[jamesjv]

02:28 PM on 07/21/2011

How does this tie into AIPAC? Iran has been an enemy of the US since 1979 when they took the hos.tages. This has nothing to do with Israel, but I guess in your little world the je.ws are blamed for everything. If ignorance is bliss, you must be a very happy man.

[Edward Watters]

04:27 PM on 07/21/2011

AIPAC successfully lobbies and spends hard for pro-Israel policies so it's probable that the spy plane was there gathering intelligence to share with Israel for their attack on Iran. Read:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4096015,00.html

Why not hold AIPAC accountable for US costs in support of Israeli goals?

[Kashif Kaim Khani]

10:09 AM on 07/21/2011

brilliant work.. if Iran can hit US Spy plane than why Pakistan can't??????????

[CDRUSNret]

10:15 AM on 07/21/2011

Myopia?

[jacksonhu317]

04:41 AM on 07/21/2011

Wow! so impressive! unbelieveable! I really want to know how Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down the spy plane of US, should we fight back?

[Menkaka]

05:12 PM on 07/21/2011

I THINK WE SHOULD

[marknez21]

01:33 AM on 07/21/2011

Does US loose a lot of drones? Haven't heard of any drooping
over Pakistan, Libiya, Iraq,Yemen or Afghanistan

[bdaved]

03:18 AM on 07/21/2011

From the Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2010, "War zone drone crashes add up" By David Zucchino:
"Thirty-eight Predator and Reaper drones have crashed during combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and nine more during training on bases in the U.S. — with each crash costing between $3.7 million and $5 million. Altogether, the Air Force says there have been 79 drone accidents costing at least $1 million each."
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/06/world/la-fg-drone-crashes-20100706

[marknez21]

04:22 AM on 07/21/2011

Thanks for your comprehensive comment.
What kind of TECHNOLOGY they have?
Too many crashes!!!!!!!

[dsa1115]

12:27 AM on 07/21/2011

We need to be using stealth drones.

[Magic 62]

01:17 AM on 07/21/2011

It was most likely a stealth drone.

[CDRUSNret]

09:16 AM on 07/21/2011

What makes you think that?

[ArthroughpadNY]

12:27 AM on 07/21/2011

There is a possibility that the drone is Israeli. The Israeli drone looks exactly like the US drone and it should because the Predator was originally designed by an Israeli businessman whose business was acquired by the CIA.

[Yasser Yousufi]

02:44 AM on 07/21/2011

Even if it was an Israeli drone, it must have taken off from a US base somewhere in Iraq or Afghanistan. So US cant just shirk off its culpability~!

[any mouse]

03:52 AM on 07/21/2011

Depends on the UAV. Some are designed to be launched locally, but some are designed to have very long range and flight times.

[Observer111]

11:04 PM on 07/20/2011

A few action of US against Iran: Flight 655 with 290 civilians on board shut down in Iranian airspace by US warship in Iranian territorial waters (?!), computer worms that damaged industrial infrastructure, drones...what's next.... bombing them into democracy. No wonder they are working on nuclear weapons so Citadel of Democracy leaves them alone and Libyan scenario is not possible.

[ArthroughpadNY]

12:23 AM on 07/21/2011

Yes the Mullahs are peace loving individuals. The Iranian Guard is a boys club. Their proxy army Hizbollah has not taken over Lebanon and the Shias don't want the destruction of the west and the Sunnis. And they are not trying to build nuclear weapons. Anything else you want explained?

[Observer111]

12:51 AM on 07/21/2011

1. There is nothing wrong with being a mullah or rabbi
2. There is nothing wrong with Iranian Guard or Kansas National Guard
3. Hizballah is a popular political force in Lebanon
4. Leave Sunni and Shia settle their differences just like Protestants vs. Caths in Belfast
4. Many countries have nukes..Pak and israel including, there is nothing wrong with having them.
5. US forces fighting for "democracy" destroyed more civilian lives in Vietnam, Iraq , Astan and now Libya than Iran by a wide margin.
Hypocrisy rules.
Anything else needs to be explained?

[Magic 62]

12:56 AM on 07/21/2011

Shia/Iran doesn't want the destruction of the west. Then who would be buying the oil when they expand their influence over Persian Gulf.

[escribacat]

11:01 PM on 07/20/2011

Blame it on those hikers.

[mimsysc]

10:21 PM on 07/20/2011

Has obama apologized yet?

[Epsilon45]

10:18 PM on 07/20/2011

Pound the Iranians with all the drones we can thow at them!

[marknez21]

01:38 AM on 07/21/2011

We can not. DEFICIT, we have borrow money from China for drones.