Air Force doubts Iran downed drone

Posted on: Apr. 14th, 2006 || Source: seattlepi.nwsource.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

Air Force doubts Iran downed drone

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - A spy plane that Iran claims to have shot down over its territory was not operated by the U.S. Air Force, a top American general said Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Allen Peck also played down Pentagon planning for airstrikes on Iran, calling it routine.

Iran's Farsi-language daily Jomhouri Islami reported Sunday that Iran had downed an unmanned spy plane flying in its airspace near the border with southern Iraq.

Peck, the deputy commander of U.S. Air Force operations in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters, said no unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, that fly in the region were missing.

"All of my UAVs are accounted for," Peck said. "I know where they all are, and none of them are on the ground in Iran."

It is possible Iran downed a spy drone operated by an intelligence agency, military officials said, or it could have downed a plane flown by a noncoalition military unit.

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