Iran FM gives location drone shot down after 'violated Iranian airspace'

The Pentagon confirms the shooting down but insists the unmanned aircraft was in international airspace

TEHRAN: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday a US surveillance drone "violated Iranian airspace" before being shot down earlier in the day, providing coordinates to back his claim.

The drone "was targeted at 04:05 at the coordinates (25°59'43"N 57°02'25"E) near Kouh-e Mobarak. We've retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down."

Zarif earlier tweeted that Iran would go to the United Nations to prove that the drone had entered its airspace and that "the US is lying".

US regulator bars airlines from flying over some Iran-controlled airspace

With tensions soaring between the two countries following a series of attacks against tankers in the Gulf, the Pentagon confirmed a US surveillance drone had been shot down by Iranian forces early Thursday.

But it insisted the unmanned aircraft was in international airspace.

The Pentagon released a graphic pinpointing the position of the drone on a map of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic passage through which some 35 percent of the world's seaborne oil passes.