IRGC claims downing US MQ-1 drone over Strait of Hormuz

• Iranian officials claimed Washington was forced to redeploy the older MQ-1 airframes after heavy losses depleted its active MQ-9 Reaper inventory.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) alleged that its Aerospace Force intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-1 unmanned aerial vehicle over the strategic waters of the Strait of Hormuz.

According to an official press release issued by the IRGC Public Relations Office, the aircraft was tracked and brought down by a newly deployed, advanced indigenous air defense system operating under the Islamic Republic’s unified integrated air defense network.

“Moments ago, another MQ-1 drone belonging to the US terrorist military was intercepted and destroyed over the skies of the Strait of Hormuz by the advanced air defense fire of the IRGC Aerospace Force,” the statement claimed.

Addressing the model of the intercepted aircraft, the IRGC highlighted that the US Air Force and Navy had formally retired the older MQ-1 Predator line several years ago, replacing it with the larger and more capable MQ-9 Reaper.

However, Iranian military officials alleged that the Pentagon has been forced to bring the older MQ-1 platform back into active regional service due to heavy equipment losses.

The IRGC statement claimed that the redeployment of the legacy drones was necessitated by the destruction of a large percentage of the US military’s active MQ-9 Reaper inventory over the course of the regional conflict.