It was unclear whether the Iranians intended to warn off the unmanned drone
but Mr Little said: “Our working assumption is that they fired to take it
down.”
The drone was “never in Iranian airspace” and came under fire off the Iranian
coast over international waters, Mr Little said.
In a warning to Tehran, Mr Little said the United States was prepared to
safeguard its forces.
The confrontation threatened to derail diplomatic efforts to defuse a mounting
crisis over Tehran’s nuclear programme, amid a shadow war of cyber attacks,
bombings and assassinations.
Tough new sanctions led by Washington are squeezing Iran’s economy, while the
United States and Israel are accused of staging cyber sabotage on Tehran’s
uranium enrichment plants.
Source: AFP