Iran TV says footage disproves US report of downed drone

Iran's state television on Friday aired footage it said disproved U.S. President Donald Trump's assertion that the U.S. Navy has destroyed an Iranian drone in the Gulf.

The video published by the Revolutionary Guards showed aerial views of warships. The television station said the drone had captured the footage and timing notations showed the drone was still filming after Washington said it had been downed in the Strait of Hormuz.

The United States has "very clear evidence" that it took down an Iranian drone despite Tehran's denial, a U.S. official said Friday.

"We have very clear evidence," the US official said, alluding to a possible video.

"It was their drone that came too close to our ship. If you fly too close to our ships, you're going to get shot down."

President Donald Trump on Friday insisted the US had taken down an Iranian drone that was threatening a US naval vessel in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, despite denials from Tehran.

"No doubt about it, no – we shot it down," Trump said in the Oval Office.

His National Security Advisor John Bolton added: "There is no question that this was an Iranian drone."

Trump said on Thursday that the drone had flown to within 900 meters of the U.S. warship Boxer and had ignored "multiple calls to stand down."

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Friday they would release images to disprove U.S. President Donald Trump's assertion that the U.S. Navy has destroyed an Iranian drone in the Gulf, Iranian news agencies reported.

"Soon, images captured by the Guard's drones from the U.S. warship Boxer will be published to expose to world public opinion as lies and groundless the claim ... of shooting down an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz," the Revolutionary Guard said in a statement carried by news agencies.

Earlier Friday, Tehran denied that the United States had downed one of its drones, saying all Iranian aircraft were accounted for and jesting that Washington may have accidentally hit its own machine.

The latest incident in the strategic Strait of Hormuz comes amid soaring tensions between the two foes, with Washington already reeling from Iran shooting down one of its drones last month.

U.S. President Donald Trump said an American naval vessel downed an Iranian drone Thursday that threatened the ship as it was entering the strait – a claim vehemently denied by Tehran.

Iran's armed forces dismissed Trump's assertion as "baseless and delusional."

"All of [Iran's] drones... have safely returned to their bases," armed forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi said.

"There have been no reports of a confrontation with the American USS Boxer" naval vessel, he added, quoted by Tasnim.

Trump said Thursday that the USS Boxer "took defensive action" against an Iranian aircraft as it was "threatening the safety" of the vessel and its crew.

The Pentagon said the ship "was in international waters" when a drone approached.

"The ship took defensive action against the UAS to ensure the safety of the ship and its crew," Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said.

But Iran's deputy foreign minister, Sayyed Abbas Araghchi, said such an incident had never taken place, saying the Islamic Republic had not lost any aircraft.

"I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own [drone] by mistake!" Araghchi tweeted Friday.

The confrontation comes after Tehran in June shot down an American surveillance drone it said was flying in its airspace, a claim denied by the United States.

Trump said he called off retaliatory strikes at the last minute following the incident.

Iran has in turn refuted U.S. accusations that it was behind a series of recent tanker attacks off the United Arab Emirates coast and the Gulf of Oman.

The tanker troubles further intensified on July 4, when Gibraltar detained an Iranian vessel with the help of British Royal Marines.

Gibraltar's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Grace 1 supertanker can be detained for 30 more days.

U.S. officials believed the vessel was destined for Syria to deliver oil, in violation of separate sets of European Union and U.S. sanctions.

Following the seizure Iran branded the move "piracy" and, one week later, London said Iranian boats menaced a British tanker in the Gulf before they were driven off by a Royal Navy frigate.

That led to U.S. calls for an international flotilla to escort hydrocarbon-laden vessels from Gulf oil fields through the Strait of Hormuz.

The incidents have raised fears of a regional conflict involving the U.S. and its allies in the Gulf region, through which nearly a third of the world's oil is transported.

The top commander of Iran's Guards said they were not seeking to "initiate a war" but would respond to hostilities.

"If enemies make a mistake in calculation, our defensive strategy and all our capacities will change to offensive," said General Hossein Salami, quoted by Sepahnews.

His comments came after the Guards said Thursday they had seized a "foreign tanker" believed to be the Panamanian-flagged vessel Riah and its crew.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards accuse the ship of smuggling Iranian fuel.

U.S. Central Command Chief Kenneth McKenzie pledged Thursday to work "aggressively" with partners to ensure freedom of navigation in Gulf waters.

But the Guards' deputy chief said the United States will soon realize "it is not in its interest at all to stay in the region."

U.S. forces are under mounting "psychological pressure" in the Gulf, Brigadier-General Ali Fadavi was quoted by Tasnim as saying.

The drone incident comes amid a threatened breakdown of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, with Washington steadily ratcheting up economically debilitating sanctions on Tehran a year after unilaterally quitting the deal.

Earlier this month, Tehran purposely surpassed the deal's caps on uranium enrichment, aiming to pressure the remaining parties to make good on their promises to support Iran economically.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if Tehran's oil exports are blocked through sanctions.

Last month Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Iran was keeping up sales through "unconventional" means to circumvent the US measures.