An Iranian official has denied reports that an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that had gone down in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan came from abroad.
Governor General of Shush Reza Nejati told IRNA on Saturday that the Iranian drone had gone down on the outskirts of the city of Shush on Friday.
Nejati also dismissed as rumors reports that the UAV had been hit by a missile.
He added that according to investigations, the drone, which was on a training mission, had crashed due to technical faults.
The official noted that the crash caused no casualty or damage to property on the ground.
The official made the remarks after earlier reports claimed that a foreign surveillance drone crashed near Shush near the border with Iraq.
Iran has in the past brought down a number of aircraft that have violated its airspace.
In October 2014, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said its forces had intercepted and shot down an Israeli spy drone with a surface-to-air missile. The Israeli-made Hermes drone was heading to Natanz nuclear facility in the central Iranian province of Isfahan.
The IRGC also captured a US ScanEagle drone over the Persian Gulf waters upon its intrusion into the Iranian airspace in December 2012. In the same month the previous year, Iran downed a US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft with minimal damage. The drone was flying over the Iranian city of Kashmar, near the Afghan border, when it was brought down.