By Barbara Starr
Two Iranian Su-25 fighter jets fired on an unarmed U.S. Air Force Predator drone in the Persian Gulf on November 1, the Pentagon disclosed on Thursday.
The incident, reported first by CNN, raised fresh concerns within the Obama administration about Iranian military aggression in crucial Gulf oil shipping lanes.
The drone was on routine maritime surveillance in international airspace east of Kuwait, 16 miles off the coast of Iran, U.S. officials said. The Predator was not hit.
Also: U.S. adds to Iran sanctions
"Our aircraft was never in Iranian airspace. It was always flying in international air space. The recognized limit is 12 nautical miles off the coast and we never entered the 12 nautical mile limit," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in responding to questions from reporters after CNN reported the incident.
Little said the United States believed this was the first time an unmanned aircraft was shot at by the Iranians in international waters over the Gulf. In December of 2011, a U.S. surveillance drone crashed in eastern Iran. Iranians claimed to have shot it down, and created a toy model of the drone to celebrate its capture.
Little stopped short of calling the incident an act of war although the Pentagon was concerned.
Also: Obama faces world of challenges in second terms
Two U.S. officials explained the jets were part of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps force, which has been more confrontational than regular Iranian military forces.
At least two bursts of gunfire came from the Su-25s' cannons. The drone started to move away but the Iranian aircraft chased it, doing aerial loops around it before breaking away and returning to Iran.
The Obama administration did not disclose the incident before the presidential election, but three senior officials confirmed the details to CNN on Thursday. They declined to be identified because of sensitive intelligence matters surrounding the matter.
The drone's still and video cameras captured the incident showing two Su-25s approaching the Predator and firing onboard guns.
The Iranian pilots continued to fire shots that went beneath the Predator but were never successful in hitting it, according to the officials.
U.S. military intelligence analysts are still not sure if the Iranian pilots simply were unable to hit the drone due to lack of combat skill, or whether they deliberately were missing and had no intention of bringing it down.
But as one of the officials said, "it doesn't matter, they fired on us."
Little said the United States has to assume Iran was trying to bring down the Predator.
The United States protested the incident but had not heard back from Iran.
Iran has, at other times, been confrontational in the region. In January, the U.S. military and coast guard had close encounters with Iranian Navy vessels which approached at high speeds and exhibited provocative behavior.
Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, declined to say whether his country knew about the incident before Pentagon officials
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Help | Advertising Practices
I'm glad Obama was reelected then. If it was warmonger Romney, the US would be at war in Iran starting today.
Why we didn't know–Obama didn't want gas to spike just before the elections.
So our cowardly President strikes again. The Iranians fire on our drones and he wants to "negotiate". Too bad he is more motivated to persecute U.S. citizens than he is to challenge foreign adversaries.
Aaawwww...boo-hoo. Did Obamy hurt you? Want a cookie?
Get a life, you really sound pathetic
And YOU sound like a fish with NO gills....................................I suggest you prep for the future. You moron.
Hope you enjoyed the Koolaid,when the depression hits you won't be getting any more.
I am prepared.........................no kool-aid stored. Just the essentials. Take care.
sounds like you want another war and cost us more money.. i dont get it you complain about our debt but you want to go to war.... are you going to pay for this?
LMAO some of the people on here are so fooled by Barry I mean Obama. LOL!!!!!
spot on babe.....you so right home
CLARKE, YOU KNOW YOU FRIEND BARRY IS A PEACE LOVING MAN. HE WON"T DO ANYTHING EVEN IF THE RUUSKIES NUKE US.
My brothers uncles cousin on my second wife's fathers side says that we were over Iran when this happened and he is a trustworthy as they get!
War with iran now...war with iran now....cmon barakkkkkkkkkkkak do it babe.......we love you messiah
Incidents like this are meant to raise price of oil as a result of renewed tension. That's one thing the Iranians can still due at will and disturb world economy.
The supposed Iranian jet was probably owned by an oil company, or somebody with a vested interest in a potential war with Iran. Either that or we were probably in their airspace. Or maybe they thought it was a toy, and they wanted to play too.
I THOUGHT ONLY ROMNEY WOULD GOTO WAR WITH IRAN
Funny how they withheld this information until after the election.
I'd call it borderline treasonous.
This is the nature of the Open and Honest Administration which has been neither.
Sorry Barbara Starr... Maybe Santa should bring you a subscription to 'Jane's'. The Sukhoi SU-25 is NOT a jet fighter as your article claims. It is a ground attack aircraft similar to the USAF's A-10. It is somewhat faster than the A-10 but can carry far less payload. It's odd that this type of aircraft would be used for an interception another aircraft, or even a drone. The SU-25 is not designed to be a dogfighter nor is it even supersonic.. If Iran really wanted to show their flag, they would have deployed a couple of old F-4s leftover from the Shaw or maybe a Mig-21 or 25 or 29.
Well put Ted.
This happened a week ago. Regardless of why that drone was, why are we learning about this now?
Evereyone knows we are learning about this now because the election is over. The shame is we have all come to expect this and it is not a surprise. I am weaving my prayer rug,,, it is only a matter ot time.
It must be the liberal media bias.
Don't be in such a rush to judgement. When a US ship fired a missle on an Iranian passenger plane and killed 300 Iranians, they did not attack us. So it is ok for the US to make a mistake, but not another country?
The July 3, 1988 Iran Air shootdown was an accident that resulted from mistaken radar identification of an airliner as an Iranian F-14. It happened in the middle of a combat zone (Iran-Iraq war) on a day when U.S. ships and helicopters had just fired on Iranian speedboats that were threatening them and commercial vessels in the area.
U.S. ships and aircraft had also engaged Iranian warships in an extensive, day long battle only a few months earlier. (Google "Operation Praying Mantis.")
The difference here is that the Iranian pilots knew perfectly well that they were shooting at a U.S. aircraft that posed no threat to them. (They flew loops around it, for heaven's sake.) This was no accident. It was a provocative and very foolish act on the part of the Iranians. Let's hope that Iran comes to its senses before anything else happens.
They don't know what the drone is. That's the point. They don't know if the drone's nose have a conventional warhead or not. They don't know what the drone's intention is. Especially when it take the drone only 7 minutes to enter Iranian airspace. That is why they send their planes up to warn it away or to see what it is. It's a typical military response. They don't know if the drone is armed or not. Drone in Persian gulf definitely must be military-related.
Let me tell you an interesting story. Couple years ago, a West German teenager landed his airplane in Moscow without getting stopped. The result was increased paranoia in Soviet Air Defense system. They even shot missiles toward weather balloons. Now Iran is in the same if not more dangerous situation with US and Israel. It's little wonder their armed forces will be on high alert for something unknown especially of military origin.
Definately not first on CNN. I heard about this on my Android RSS feed twenty minutes before any major news outlet ran the story. CNN....you try so hard.
CNN has turned from a real news organization to a tabloid news station. I travel a lot in Asia, and when I go to CNN they are always showing dull talking heads...entertainment, self-advertising...just garbage. Al-jazeera, on the other hand is a superior news station...they cover real news around the world. My second choice is BBC. CNN is just trying to copy another garbage "news" network..Fox news. What happened, CNN? You don't have any reporters?
They can read your newspaper from space, while you're sitting on your patio. Iran is a perfect place to "read" from International waters. If they weren't watching them, they would be amiss. If they smoke one of our drones in those waters we'll smoke one of their jets... no problem. Don't underestimate Obama.
thank goodness Romney didn't win.
OBAMA WILL GOTO WAR WITH IRAN AND MAKE W PROUD!!
Well lets not race into Iran and start shooting. Lets learn the facts, then take care of business.
wonder why it was not reported prior to the election? duh...
while i am for peace, but what the Iranians did was indeed an act of aggression. The US should publicly release the drone's flight path and video of the incident to prove it.
Keep an eye on india. they are providing all info to Iran for cheap oil. These hindu Indians are playing a double game with Americans in Iran. ALERT ALERT !!!
I know!! We have an Hindu gas station owner right by my house and his is the cheapest of the entire state of Washington. Wonder about that for years.
Oh look, a Pakistani Shill.
U mf think before u say something
Well, Well, what a surprise! The administration is hiding events from the american people.
That is because they know how stupid most americans truly are.
As the old saying goes, YOU AIIN"'T SEEN NOTHING YET.
Your post shows how stupid you are... NOT the rest of Americans.
How would we treat an Iranian drone 16 miles off our coast?
but our country isn't run by a fanatical nutcase that hates the western world and would do everything possible to obtain a nuclear warhead....and use it...on Israel
Yeah true we would probably do the same thing lol
There's an idea for a new top gun movie. This time we fight iran.
The Iranians are freaking out because they are just a hair away from destruction. This happened one other time and they were shooting their own aircraft in a freak out frenzy. What they don't know is that when it happens, it will be too late when they find out. Stupid muslims...
can you blame the iranian military... what the Iranians were up too???? we are a bit arrogant as a nation to believe we can fly a Predator drone 16 miles off the coast of Iran and expect no repercussions. what if they flew an unmanned predator drone 16 miles off the coast of NYC???
Yeah, the hypocricy is hard to stomach. Hard to believe.
You are way too naive
Actually CNN, Fox News was FIRST to report this! Cheers!
No. That's just the first place you read it.
No big deal, until one realizes that the Iranians located, tracked, and fired upon a USA STEALTH drone. They have solved our stealthing technology. That is HUGE!
How do you know it's an actual stealth drone?
Predator drones are not stealthy.
I THOUGHT THAT IF OBAMA WAS REELECTED AMERICA WASN'T GOING TO GOTO WAR WITH IRAN
YEAH!! THIS IS ALL OBAMAS FAULT!! WHY DID HE ALLOW IRAN TO SHOOT DOWN A SPY DRONE!! I THOUGHT HE WAS GONNA USE HIS MAGIC WAND AND NOT LET THAT HAPPEN!! OBAMAS A LIAR JUST LIKE FOX NEWS SAID. YEAH!!
Why on earth would you believe that?
Just be glad It was not a maned plane, we may have ended up in a war.
The LOL "officials" quoted in this story are hilarious, acting all innocent. "Hey guys, our little harmless SPY DRONE was trolling the coast off of Iran and I can't believe they shot at us!!! We weren't over the line!" Yeah bu your cameras were. You can't tell me the sensors on that thing can't see 12 miles in, give me a break. Sorry, as an American citizen, we are not innocent here and need to own up to it, no special exceptions. Oh and those of you joking about Obama apologizing, I'm sure you appreciated the "soft" apology that was delivered to Osama Bin Laden.
Your "logic" is all over the place. You are obviously not very educated.
Okay enlighten me then Aristotle
How dare you make such a remark about OBL's demise? You WANT to live there, in that type of repressed society? Go right ahead, be our guest, but shut your cake hole with cement before you criticize the democracy which allows morons like you to sound off- all the while just sounding what you are: stupid beyond belief.
Yes! How dare I WHAT? Sounds like you just got mad about a bunch of stuff I didn't even say.
From a Canadian perspective...Only a few weeks ago a Russian Attack sub ( much more deadly then an Iranian SU-35) was discovered and tracked playing hide and seek and practicing its mission of covertly sneaking up on American vessels not 300 miles from the US east cost and only miles from the border of international waters. It was stalking a us carrier group until it was discovered at which point it turned back towards Europe and left/
The response from Obama was to do nothing more then to monitor and track it and to let them know they had been discovered.
To those who say that Obama would have shot down an Iranian drone flying on the edge of Americas airspace...I highly doubt it. Your president although not the best for my country is quite intelligent and is doing a very good job of not dragging your country down the tubes even further then it it already is by engaging in another needless costly war.
As for the russian sub....Seems many of you did not even know it was there.
What's Obama gonna do? Lie again that's all he does is lie lie lie lie!!
Maybe "genius" Joe Biden can tell Oblama what to do. LMAO
As opposed to TBaggers controlling puppet Mittens that's perfectly fine. Biden is the Vice President after all... not some psycho right wing Nazi precursor party.
Waaaaaaaaaaa.
Aawww...boo-hoo. Did Obamy take your cookies? How old are you, seven? Get a life, take your meds, or whatever you need to do.
I know. Romney would have had us in our 3rd war by now, and we all know thats exactly what we need.
Firstly, Washington has habitually lied so much over the past 12 years that I wouldn't believe anything they say whether it comes from Washington or the Pentagon. Secondly, lets just assume this incident happened: The US has Iran completely surrounded, and we know full well that if China had the US surrounded in the same way the US would be going to war. And you call Iran provocative? Iranian fighters fire a few warning shots at a US drone and Washington gets its pants all in a twist? Give me a break. The US is just itching for an excuse to start a war with Iran and will use any propaganda it can to justify it. If Americans don't know it, the rest of the world bloody well knows it.
Good accurate post. Also, I think that China would take a very dim view of us invading Iran. But, they sold the WMD and people bought into it. Nukes will also sell. Time will tell.
Washington don't need an excuse to start war with Iran.If USA wants to wipe out Iran,hey can and who can do anything about it.China? Russia? Who?
I cant believe how many of you are blaming us for a routine flight in international airspace. I am really starting to believe half of this county is mentally handi capped.
Yeah right. Like you would let a Iranian drone fly 16 miles off the U.S. coast. Freaking hypocrite.
A Russian sub was tracked off the east coast within the past month....close but in international waters. Should we have fired on it because we know it was eavesdropping? I don't think so! This cat and mouse game with Iran is not new and was handled just fine in my estimation. However, they take a chance each time that we won't rain hell on them and one day may go too far.
I think Americans are handicapped. I mean, you voted Obama back into office... Holy hell... You're constantly meddling in the affairs of other nations and regions and you get you panties all in a twist when Iran, (who are completely surrounded by US client states with US bases and weapons pointed at them, who are suffering under US economic warfare against their country), fires a few warning shots at one of your drones? You should be happy that as you continue to provoke Iran that this is all that's happened.
Oh, but Iran didn't outright THREATEN Israel?? Google it.
Has the US ever threatened to "wipe a country off the map"? No.
Funny they waited after the puppet USA election.
You people are a class act! This happened on Nov. 1. Guess what was also happening? Hurricane Sandy where how many people died? I think the White House's priorities were absolutely correct.
what is the name of the video that was to blame for this.
Had we shut down one their aircraft, I'm positive they wouldn't be planning on doing it again. But because we are so predictable, Obama usually responds with a firm threat of an official apology. Let's face it, the longer we wait, the higher the risks of a nuclear confrontation in the near horizon.
Did he apologize to Osama Bin Laden? YEAH... he sure did with an automatic rifle fire in his face. Too bad your fearless leader George W. Bush was not even able to find him hiding in his "ally" country.
Obama didn't kill Bin Laden... The Navy Seals did...
Here's a newsflash–Aerican didn't vote for your neocon wars.
Don't worry every time some Iranian wants to fire a couple of AK47 rounds from his soviet era jet, there's no need to go to war just yet. Remember that Obama is the one who successfully oversaw the the killing of Osama Bin Laden. There are times when you shouldn't fly off the handle and act irrationally. Obama knows when to lay the pipe. Just ask Michelle.
And if they had a drone flying offshore in int;'l waters, we wouldn't try & shoot it down?... c'mon you bunch of f'k'g children, grow the hell up!..
Spot on. These people are pathetic.
You wimps sound like apologetic peter-puffers. The USA follows maritime and international air-traffic laws.
Stop apologizing and stand up when you see someone breaking the law? If you saw a ra pe in progress, you are the type to wonder what the victim did to warrant the attack while you walk away.
PA THET IC!
No Dan. We wouldn't. We would provide them a military escort to a safe landing place. We hide from news like this.. Or it is hidden from us. Remeber 9-11-2012. The sheep has spoken. BAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...... Four more years of this. I am weaving m y prayer cloth.
@ Mr. Clarity. That is true. We will provide a proper military escort and they will leave and nobody gets hurt. Now what if the drone/aircraft decided not to listen?
Just a couple of Tom Cruise types letting off a little steam. Boys will be boys.
I love reading everyone's foolish posts.
Heaven forbid we heard about this before the f^&=ing election, Nope there is no threat from Iran just like the are no terorrists. Everyone LOVES us. We are screwed with this guy.
You do remember whose backyard America is playing in....don't you?
Why didn't you report this BEFORE the election????? Since it happened BEFORE the election????? Maybe because you work for the Democratic Party???? Americans are NOT STUPID!!!!!!!! We know what you are about CNN. We also know what FOX is about. You, corrupt, paid for, news media outlets are a DISCRACE TO AMERICA!!!!!!!!
Restraint. Please. Happy you are not in charge of the nuclear codes. De-caf yourself.
Glad you are happy. Keep hiding behind your rock.
Probably because the DoD needs to check things out and recommend a course of action once they analyze everything. Everything that happens between militaries is clearly public knowledge, right?
If it takes more than a week to "anaylize" things.............we are screwed. Get with the program buddy.............a nuclear strike will happen in seconds. Your really think this kind of incident takes this long to figure out? THEY HID THIS BECAUSE OF THE ELECTIONS. Get real and stop hiding behind things.
cnn is not the only news outlet
And this would of changed the election how? Take a chill pill. This is barely important news at all....you obviously have never been in the military and don't realize how often other countries do dumb stuff to us
Being in the "military" does not make you a saint. You have no right to down someone just because the lack of this. They military is not the "be all end all" of the USA. You don't KNOW everything.
So if we started WW3 before the election, you would be happy with that? Just checking.
So in your world CNN is involved in a conspiracy to cover up news unfavorable to Obama until after the election... Why? And what about all the other news stations? Were they in on the conspiracy too?
Stop running around like a chicken with your head cut off. You lost the election. Deal with it. Don't try and spin this into something that it's not.
Oh no! If only we'd heard this before the election! It would have changed everything!
What an impaired intellect.
I assume the U.S. response will be that the fearless leader obama will personally fly to Iran to suck the toes of Ahmadinejad? ...sounds about right.
Regarding the miscreants who overan our embassy & held our staff hostage in 1979, kill 'em all (regime) & let Allah sort 'em out. The Iranians have American blood on their hands many times over & we've not responded in kind. This war is late out of the gates.
did the iranians shoot down an american commercial airplane carrying 300 innocent people?
No, but the Iranian military was supplying explosively shaped penetrators for IED's that killed and maimed hundreds of US servicemen and women in Iraq. They also supply Hezbollah with money and arms for their terrorist war against Israel. And long before the Airbus incident, they Iranians violated international law and our soil by invading the US embassy and holding the staff hostage for 444 days. Not to mention (and I'm sure you forget this too), the armed Iranian speedboats that have been threatening civilian shipping in the Straits of Hormuz for decades. So really, not having a lot of sympathy here for the Iranian government or military. The Iranian people however, I think are in a bad spot and it is regrettable that they have such an evil dictator for a leader. Hopefully when Israel attacks your nation in the next few weeks and destroys your nuclear weapons program, there aren't too many civilians in the way.
i am not iranian – i am american. the US should not have been iraq in the first place, but though iran may have supplied shi'ite militias there, it was the SUNNI insurgency (supported by our "ally" saudi arabia, who also produced the vast majority of the 9/11 hijackers not to mention bin laden – how many were iranian?) that caused most of the violence there. as for israel, quite aside from the fact that israel is not america's problem and that israeli policies have also been responsible for the violence there, once again the palestinians are sunni and most of their funding comes from sunni countries, not iran.
Are people really indignant over Iranians firing at a DRONE when it was spying? Seriously?
And Iranians... you might as well have thrown a few stones at the drone.
Contrary to illiterates who don't know any better, it's not against any laws, treaties or other conventions to fly drones in international waters ... regardless if they are "spying or anything else.
Don't even bother... Pointless
This news was NOT first on CNN. About two hours ago, I checked foxnews and that news was on their page. Right away, I check BOTH cnn US and cnn international, both of which did not have that news on their respective page.
I checked the Fox site too but the virus scan told about malware there so I wouldn't go there.
This is true. I did the same thing (check all news sites – not a single one but FOX News had reported it). Cheers!
did the iranians shoot down an american commercial airplane carrying 300 innocent people?
Did the American People attack the Iranian embassy and hold the diplomatic staff for over a year? A clear act of agression? Idiots like you need to stay in Iran or whateer rock you're hiding under
I think he's referring to when russia shot down the flight from s. korea that had accidently flew over its border.
actually i am referring to when the US navy shot down an iranian commercial airliner in the 1980's. i don't know what country you think i am from, but i am american. i just don't see what is such a big deal about iran being our enemy. we have had enemies before, even nuclear-armed ones (USSR, north korea, china, an unstable (though nominally an ally) pakistan). iran CAN be contained. there is no need for war.
Look at the google maps for the Persian Gulf.. Bushehr Nuclear power plant is right there east of Kuwait. Yeah fly spy drones near one of our reactors and see our response, this was aggression by the Americans if anyone.. Sixteen miles is point blank range in modern times.
We as Latino,Black and White Americans if something takes place with Iran & Israel I will leave it up to them because we have giving up our live in the Iraq war & Afganistan where Israel did not had a big percentage of their people participating in that war ladies & gentlemens
this is easy, tomorrow send up a drone with missles and take out those planes, come on Obama, I wonder why the world/China thinks they can walk all over us. This is not war mongering, it is called self defense. Embarass the F out of them when 2 of their pilots are shot out of the sky by a remote controlled toy with air to air missiles while they shoot their peas at it.
So basically start a war when U.S. was the aggressor and sent a drone spying over their airspace? Have you not had enough debt because of two unpaid wars that you want to start a THIRD one?
Go on google maps and search for Persian Gulf! Its in the other side of the world. what the hell is an American Drone doing near their boarders.
It was in INTERNATIONAL airspace over the Persian Gulf, likely protecting oil tankers and cargo shipments so that YOU can drive your SUV 2 miles to the grocery store whenever you want.
Did you even read the article????
Learn to spell Tom and thanks to American genius, you can view Google maps. You're welcome.
Let's send in SEAL team six,SWAT,and GI Joe and kill Assad and stop this country before it's too late (I.E create a Necule miscle capable of blowing up our GREAT AMERICA)
Assad is the President of Syria you bafoon.
Ahhaaahaahahahahahaha!!!!! Hahahahaha!!! (Gasp)... Aaaaahhhhahahahahahahaha!!! LMFAO! Thanks idiot. I needed that.
FIRST ON CNN??? I read it elsewhere on Wednesday morning
correct.
Iran had a right to shoot at that drone. It was in their airspace and posed a threat to their national security. America would have reacted the same way. Iran should know this however: For every drone they shoot down, there are 100 they never even notice.
According to the United States, the drone was in International Air Space.
Of course, the United States is the same government using drones to spy on United States citizens and cameras to shake down drivers.
I'm sure that the United States would never lie about the Iran drone thingy though.
It was in international airspace. Reading is fundamental
@Bull311,do you have problems interpeting the story,the drone was 16 miles offshore of Iran in international waters which starts at 12 miles off their coast,that leaves 4 miles to play,I see you're not good in math are yah!!
I would say Bull311 is right. 1) 16 miles sure in international waters. Do you know how fast drones can go? This type of drone at most can go up to 135 mph. Divide 16 miles by 135 mph. That means the drone can enter Iranian airspace in 0.11 hours. I'll leave it to you guys to figure out how many minute that is. That's not enough time to scramble a jet 2) Drone = military. If it were a commercial airliner, then Iran would be overreacting. But Iran doesn't know what the drone can do. So they play it safe and send two fighters up to take a look...especially if it was around a high security area. We would do the same too. Especially when we don't know, we assume the worse.
We need to be firing on the drones that fly our coasts and the drones that local police are beginning to use. Remember...the only good drone is a dead drone!
No rifle that can shoot over 50 yards? Then go take out the red light cameras.
Fish worry about your own country butt out. you must not have friends there. I can see why. Out of all the colors of crayons in the box you are not the brightest at all. Do you have crayons there?
\what, does the truth hurt? What gives your country the right to do whatever it wants in the world? What if your coast was teaming with Chinese or Iranian warships? How would you react?
@Fish,if you have problems posting here go the hell home to Iran where nuts like you get along!!And remember years ago foriegn subs were sitting off of Miami Beach,big deal..We the big boys on the block,so there!!
Wow, this is such a none story, the Iranian pilots watched Top Gun one too many times. They were showing off against a drone and clearly did not intend to shoot it down, but I guarantee they would not do that against a manned fighter. The only real question worth asking is how high up the chain of command this was authorized or is this simply to gung-ho morons.
Whose to say we won't do the same if a foreign drone wandered around our vicinity? If a Chinese drone was 12 nautical miles off of New London, Kings Bay, Bangor, or Norfolk, we would send fighters up too. So do we have any right to protest? Our fighters would have fired a warning shot or loop around it.
They have been, in addition our ships have been charged at and so forth with some regularity. We've held our fire.
We don't know that. We weren't always there. If the drone continues to be there, I guarantee we will fire a shot to get its attention to leave. Even in international waters, we still will do that. Remember back in the Cold War how those Soviet Trawlers will dog US carriers in international waters? Often it takes a shot across the bow from the destroyer to tell the trawler to leave. Soviets might log a complaint about international bullying but safety and security are always the priority. No, we don't always hold our fire. And it also depends where the drone is flying. If it is a highly sensitive area, then the drone is history.
If an Iranian drone came within the same distance around U.S. waters, what would the U.S. do?
Sure that drone was just taking pictures of the beautiful landscape. Why would we be flying a drone over international waters? drones are for surveilance and attacking.
The Obama administration hiding something from the American people? Who would have guessed?
The idiots who voted for _bama don't see it.
It's not a guess. Every other President that has ever been in office has done the same thing.
He 'hid' something from the american people for about a week. That is not a lot of time. Also, there are plenty of things that the American people will never know about. Be grateful.
Let me guess, I bet all you chicken hawk would love nothing more than to start another war and send your neighbors son and daughter to fight while you hide out in the basement and complain about how much it cost.
you republicans c-suckers cough a few up and get with the program
Don't worry Obama will send them a nasty letter
Not a "nasty" letter, he will send a heartfelt appology, for invading their "waters"(international waters), and claim that the attack was provoked by a blogger somewhere in the U.S. making "mean spirited" comments about the prophet...According to him, America can do nothing right...
The mission was so classified the Iranians knew about it.
US drones have nothing to do over Iran. They are shot down? Tough.
They were over Kuwait, not Iran
Read the article, are you people stupid? It was in international airspace, not over Iran nor had it been. Sheesh.
No kidding. What article are these guys reading? If they were over Iran, we would EXPECT them to be shot at.
The drone survived. Guess that says a lot about the quality of Iranian pilots.
Was that Maverick flying in that SU-25? Let me guess, he flew inverted and gave the drone "the finger" too.
Really!!! First Benghazi and The media is silent and now post election CNN wants to report on global terrorism? What a crock. CNN and Obama can take a flying leap. How's it feel to be played America!
Do you know why the Republicans and Mormon Bishop Mittens stop talking about Benghazi?
Here's a HINT: it was a REPUBLICAN who screwed-up
I don't care who's fault it was, it was buried and lied about. Who's in charge Obama! So if it was a republican then why didn't the administration pounce on it? Don't be a sheep, cover up is under way and its the current administrations responsibility to own it.
Hillary's a Republican?
It was just as beneficial to Romney that this information was not reported the day before elections: why would it be in America's better interest to elect a business man with no foreign policy experience in the middle to aggressive Iranian actions? Obama's much better suited to handle these events than Romney.
Your right, Obama is better suited to handle this situation. He has apologizing down to a science...
Look at the google maps for the gulf.. Bushehr Nuclear power plant is right there east of Kuwait. Yeah fly spy drones near one of our reactors and see our response, this was aggression by the Americans if anyone.. Sixteen miles is point blank range in modern times.
Much as I abhorr the Iranian government, I agree with you. We must ground our drones and stop unilateral surveillance and bombings. My only regret is that they didn't hit it. Drones have pretty much destroyed the anti-war movement here, as evidenced by Obama ordering more airstrikes in year one than Bush did in all 8, and the anti-war crowd gladly voted for him again. We can't keep bombing whomever we don't like with no accountability, or at least we shouldn't.
Reblogged this on thesurvivalplaceblog.
How would you feel if Iran had some flying crap 16 miles of our shore. International huh.
Nice shooting, Dickwads!
What planet are Republicans from??? Your boy got WHOOPED! It would have made such a difference if this would have came out before the election huh??? BUHAHAHAHA! You will never learn, hence why you are a DYING breed.
Simple truth, everyone's getting played by this administration at least I know it and have the guts to vote against it. The Dems are sheep for this administration. Bahhhhhaaaaa
WAR!!!!!
America has spoken, no wars for zi0nism.
Wow. Did your parents have any children that lived?
Your an idiot.
Most American Jews supported Obama's win against the oppressive Republicans, and many heavily donated.
Sheldon Adelson has ruined Israeli politics with Bibi blowhard, and is attempting to do the same here.
Don't think Adelson represents the majority of Jews or Israelis for a moment.
WE DONT WANT WAR.
Hello from Canada. I have to point out how utterly pathetic some of you people are. And hypocritical. If there was an Iranian drone within a thousand miles of the USA it would be shot down. The US has drones, warships, aircraft all over the middle east, you spy on other countries, you fly drones over their airspace...come on. Get bloody real.
As for you whining Republicans and other partisans on here–grow up. You are an embarrassment to your country. Are you going to spend the next four years crying on a CNN message board? What a disgrace.
That is a very good point, Fish . . . . complete hipocracy. So they took a few shots at a drone . . . what is the big deal?
Yet again, another self-righteous Canadian. Hello from elsewhere...
Amen!
That is to you Fish!
Fish!! What would Canada do! Duh!
you tell em Fish. Can you imagine if an iranian military aircraft was flying 16 miles off the california coast? that's in viewable distance if you're hanging out on the beach. US population is too susceptible to propaganda. this is an american provocation of war, not and iranian provocation of war. Convenient that it came out the day AFTER the election. if you all think obama is going to stay out of iran, you're all kidding yourselves.
Hey Canada – I like your country, but your remarks are dead wrong. Does Canada do anything to fight for freedom? No, we do it for you.
We've had higher casualties than your country in Afghanistan, as a percentage of our population. We have been there fighting and dying for ten years you thankless POS. You're likely to ignorant and self-absorbed to even know that.
Sorry we sat out that stupid, illegal misadventure of your buddy Bush. Chretien had the sense to know better.
To compare the U.S. air space and drones off the Atlantic coast to conditions in the Middle East is ludicrous and totally in denial of the terrorist activities going on in the region. I would suppose you would compare Toronto as being in a similar state of affairs as Aleppo! How ridiculous.....stop drinking the Kool-aid and comment in some logical way to the current conditions around us.
Conditions? Right, conditions. If there were Iranian drones spying on our shores, your right, the conditions would be different. Conditions are as conditions do. So our government goes into a region, creates a certain "condition" which in turn justify their actions to people who are not willing to see what is going on. Which so happens to be a large majority of this country.
Ooooo the terrorists. the terrorist. Guess what, your government are the largest sponsors of terror in the world. You believe all the freedom and democracy BS? RIGHT. You're4 happy to prop up dictators if they do your bidding. And your terrorists are "freedom fighters". It's all for empire, and guess what? Yours is declining. It's over. One day you won't be the big one on the block.
Umm actually other nations do the same thing, and there are ample instances of drones, surveillance ships etc approaching American airspace, millitary assets, and American warships, it's a regular occurrence in fact.
I love to hear from Canadians. You have any idea why you dont have to pay fro a military? You think it may have something to do with living in the shadow of the US. Shut Up and enjoy your freedom paid for by the US.
As you can see , Fish, given the chance, the right wing in America would alienate every last one of our allies. I know you guys fight in wars with us, I've met your soldiers. Good thing the right wing has no idea how to win an election anymore. LOL
Ha! How cute! I know that are just going through withdraw since the NHL went on strike. Big boy countries are talking, so maybe try to be quite while your country's number one export is Bryan Adams CDs
http://www.infowars.com/cia-allegedly-using-drug-money-to-overthrow-ecuador-president-rafael-correa/
Who do you trust?
Canada? LOL. If not for us you would bye part of Russia – eh
You know, a major reasons great powers fall is hubris. Like yours. The world is changing. People are getting sick of the hypocricy and bullying of your country. Read your history. You will not be powerful forever.
Preemtive nukes. Next question.
The nuke solution is for people who fail to think . . . . Why do you suppose they banned above-ground testing? Because of the loud noise it makes? . . . No . . . Because when a nuke goes off, it blasts radiation up into the stratosphere . . . . and it comes back down all over the world . . . including on you . . . . nice thinking bumpkin.
Even though it was in international waters, this was most likely a warning shot to clear the area. At this point the Iranians do not want to escalate anything. Not a threat to the pilot since they are in a remote location. It appears the point was taken and the UAV returned to base.
Thanks Billy Mitchell.
Their fighter jets are so bad they can't hit a freakin drone with 2 jets.
Obama told us he was going to rest relations with our enemies 4 years ago..i guess hen needs another 4 years
What should he do? Romney liked what Obama was doing with Iran, so he wouldn't have done anything different.
Obama Bin Laden will apologize for our drones being to close to their air space... Just wait and see. Maybe he will go on another apology tour because of this.
He should apologize for you. That kind of talk about a sitting President when something like this happens is a disgrace.
That, wouldn't surprise me a bit.
Dude, just move out of this country if you hate it so much.
Seriously? You wasted a good thirty seconds posting that? What, pray tell, does that comment have to do with anything other than indicating your serious difficulty with reality?
Yes, unfortunately ... Obama will need to go on another tour to apologize for the crazy Republicans! LMAO
The only person that should apologize is you, you ignorant load of sod. Its people like you that make this country look bad.
if you have so much Hate, Maybe you should Pack your S**t and go, Go somewhere where hate like that is appreciated... Say..Iran...
Typical Arab-ghetto bellicose mentality. One of these days they will provoke an unnecessary war.
You do realize that they are not arabs? You also do realize that the Persian Gulf is not the Gulf of Mexico right?
way to go CNN, cover this up until captain Clueless get reelected. You know he can't handle this. . .
How come Mormon Bishop Mittens didn't throw another one his press conference?!!! LMAO
When you say things like that it sounds like you have no ideas of your own and are just repeating things you've heard other people say.
Captain Clueless? Ok
Did you watch the 3rd debate? Romney agreed with Obama on everything regarding Iran.
Ohhh! If only America had known that Iranians fired on a drone and missed! 100% of Obama voters would have suddenly decided to vote for the whack-job party and their candidate Richie Rich who planned on lowering our deficit by tripling it.
Maybe the Iranians did this on the eve of the election to provoke a response. Maybe the Iranians would rather Mitt Romney was president and they did this to try and tilt the election towards him. It seems all the Obama haters here want our elections influenced by Iranian parlor tricks. That is why you are not in charge, you are all stones and no brains. But we'll need your guns in case the Russians ever invade. LOL.
Wow your rather unitelligent. Problems have been on the rise there and it happened Nov 1st. Now I know liberals are bad at math and 1 comes before 6. Watch big bird he can help you
Wrong again. see #3
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eve
1
: evening
2
: the evening or the day before a special day
3
: the period immediately preceding
Wow your rather unitelligent. Problems have been on the rise there and it happened Nov 1st. Now I know liberals are bad at math and 1 comes before 6. Watch big bird he can help you . You still have all the public funding you need including TV. Or call your local GED office with your free cell phone and book a class. One favor also, why is it so hard for Liberals to understand facts?
I read a lot of books. That is why I appreciate the nuances of language. I also like math, like 332-206 electoral vote counts. Loser.
Well said, John. Just was I was thinking.
@John,thank God the Mormon moron wasn't elected to have this problem to deal with because we'd be in a war and this chicken hawk would've had all 500 of his generals,admirals cheering him on ,yah know the ones that signed his pledge backing him in the Washington Post...
Sly you are an ignorant non american swim back to were you floated in from
It's an Illuminati, jewish sorcery, bilderberger NWO false flag operation and george bush is behind it all.
tell me you are not serious
You whining Republicans are SO PATHETIC!!!
No you spineless needy lazy liberals re pathetic?
"The Obama administration did not disclose the incident before the presidential election, .............." Now there's a surprise.
Why didn't Mormon Bishop Mittens throw another one his press conferences?!!! How interesting ...
It's obvious the President was briefed on it, but how would Romney have access to this knowledge? Your intelligence escapes you.
Mormon Bishop Mittens has been getting the same intelligence briefings as Obama since August.
That is why he jumped the gun on the Benghazi incident and embarrassed himself.
Doesn't a country have the right to defend its borders? America would also shoot down surveillance drones if another nation were spying on us. Seems like a perfectly legitimate act of self-defense to me.
Seems like some real state propaganda is going on here...
Uh, no we wouldn't... Lots of countries monitor the US, the soviets would park ballastic missile submarines off our coast and run missle drills. As long as they stay in international waters/airspace, we wouldn't touch them.
Well that's because the USSR had nuclear bombs, and Iran doesn't. It's why we invaded Iraq and never touched North Korea. The point is that we would never allow a military base to be spied on in our territories. The Air Force has the stated policy to shoot down surveillance jets.
This article is thinly veiled US Military propaganda. Guessing I just made the terror watch list haha
We're sending drones 16 miles off their coast, and they're the aggressors? What would we do if they sent a drone that close to our coast? It's time to start minding our own business.
Your Guru buddy Wrong Paul, his policies would lead to a world war.
Agreed! At 16 miles they could have thrown stones ta it! And the headline and insistence "unmanned" and "unarmed" ... whoopdee.That is completely irrelevant
A little idiocy here BOBJ. The world has shipping lanes that are in international waters that far off of the iranian coast. Countries around the world rely upon these lanes, and the US helps patrol them.
Who said that the drone was monitoring Iran? We have a presence in that area to keep the shipping lanes open of which Iran has threatened to close them. If it ever happens again, we should consider it an act of war and shoot down their jets.
I don't hear anything about a Russian or Chinese or Iranian drone flying off the Gulf of Mexico, near the U.S. why do we have drones flying near Iran which is not that far from Russia. A couple of days ago, the Russian foreign minister rejected any sanctions against Syria (which is Iran's buddy) and China backed it up. I think the East is getting tired of the West doing stuff in the East. Let's focus on fixing our own economy, and lots of other issues which George Bush left us with.
Ok Mr. Dumb Nut. Let these shipping lanes be closed and watch the world economy take a nose dive, including ours.
Its all good. Obama will just bow in the general direction of Iran and they'll like us again.
Don't worry ... Mormon Bishop Mittens will come the rescue and invest more money into their Chinese companies! LMAO
Then Mormon Bishop Mittens will call his best buddy Benhi Netanyahooo to draw his red line higher on the chart! LMAO
And Jeff,you will bow down and grab your ankles again,just like a good little conservative Republican.
I'm gonna avoid any political stuff and just laugh at the fact a Chinese Su-25 could not down an unmanned drone.
Bad Boys, Bad Boys, watcha gonna do, when an F-22 comes for you?
This isn't a football game hero.
You're either an enlisted GI, high school student or just your average American warmonger.
time to get off that high horse Paleo
@Paleo: You're either a high-schooler, or a 40yr old chuck norris keyboard commando. Which are you?
They were warning shots.
Yes, they might have been. You did you read the story? Military personal that ACTUALLY SAW THE VIDEO COULD NOT TELL.
READ THE STORY BEFORE VOICING YOUR ARMPIT, GUY!
Um, it's actually a Russian Sukhoi Su-25, was first invented in the 1970's, it's similar to the American A-10 Warthog.
SO, bad boy bad boy bad boy, next time read a fricking military book.
S-25 is a an Air-to-Air fighter. A-10 is strictly air-to-ground.
Nice try dumb @–
I'm glad you can read wikipedia.
Obama will apologize to Iranians that they got suckered into a SKETCHY deal from one of Mormon Bishop Mitten's Chinese companies! LMAO
Yeah it's a real laugh that they feel confident enough to fire on our drones with Obama as our leader. When has that ever happened before? Oh that's right NEVER. I guess you will be rolling over laughing when they fire on one of our ships and WWIII starts.
Hmm ... could it be because Obama has increase the use of drone operations??!!! LMAO
You think it's funny we have yet again been attacked by the Iranians? I can not wait till the us has to deal with a at home ground attack cause I think it will be funny to watch people like you lose your homes and lives then run to Obama for help who in turn will do nothing as usual.
IIt happened last week but no coverage until AFTER the election. That's interesting.
because it will be cried by Republicans that the president is using it to score political points.
A threat of war provoked by another country is ALWAYS in the sitting President's favor.
If it were reported BEFORE the election, the right wingers would say it was manipulation by the President to win the election. If it were reported AFTER the election, the right wingers would say it s manipulation by the pres ... Well, you get it.
testing
Convenient timing.
I call BS here.
Down with this war mongering imperial stasi garbage nation.
Very conveeeeeenient. This happened on Nov.1, but the secretive Obama regime kept mouth shut thru election.
Only if you had known . . .
'taint happening, you CNN pu$$ies.
You thin-skinned apologetic spineless wimps elected one of your own to Commander-in-Chief and you can bet Iran, North Korea, and maybe even China are going to have a little fun pushing us around the playground for the next 4 years....
GWBush would be all over this, and put Iran in it's place. Obama? He's gonna try to "hug" Iran more. Get used to it, wimps.
A Muslim peasant threw a shoe at Bush ... that's how tough they think Bush was! LMAO
Enlist hero...
You should enlist. With a little bit of luck there will be another war and you can show the rest of us that you're a tough macho man.
We should also get used to more of yours and that of others right wing stupidity and ignorance.
At what point in time do Paul and Hadenuffyet actually stand up and FIGHT? Someone throw trash on your yard and you smile and wave? Someone come over and have a good time with your wife, you just slink off to the basement on your computers?
You sound like wimps – not ready/willing/able to stand for anything. So tell me, what WOULD it take for you to agree to a war with Iran??
Former Defense Secretary Gates ... a REPUBLICAN ... said that going to war with Iran would be one of the biggest mistake in US history if it ever happened
Are you offering to send yourself and your kids to go fight Iran?
Ask Romney.
LIke I said Etch, Dennis, et al....GET used to being pushed around the playground.....Your guy in the Oval Office is limp-wristed peter-puffer, like you.
None of you could fight your way out of a paper bag....
I seem to recall that ... Osama Bin Laden and the entire core Al Qaeda leadership are dead ...
I seem to recall that many of the dictators in the Middle East have fallen ... like that Gadafi guy.
I seem to also recall that Obama succeeded in getting the Russians and Chinese to support cripply UN sanctions against Iranian. Never done before by any other administration.
All under Obama's watch. These things don't happen by accident.
BldrRepublican:The more you post here on this subject,the more dumber you sound.Give it up son,your Mormon hero wasn't elected.He's not in charge and neither are you...But we know who is,and thank God,he's not a Republican or a Mormon!
BldrRepublican Did you over dose on your Viagra or are you just stupid?
he's just stupid
No,his estrogen level is a quart low and he is still bitter about the election outcome.Tough!
BldrRepublican:Go back to Fox News and detour straight to hell.
I think GW Bush is still looking for those WMD's. Yep, he sure was all over it. Stupid is as stupid does.
Look, Richard Nichols, the article CLEARLY states the drone was in INTERNATIONAL airspace. The drone was NOT in Iranian airspace.
That means Iran firing on it was an act of aggression. What part of that do you not understand?
cry cry cry,.............make a mother sigh..........four more years.............had to live under Bush for most of my 20s so now I get to enjoy my 30s with and intelligent leader..........why don't you to target practice with the M16 you keep in the closet Tool!
Obama weak? You mean the guy who actually tracked down and killed Bin Laden, versus Bush who spent 8 years looking in the wrong country for him? Bush would be all over this? Laughable.
Obama didn't track down bin Laden. Obama was safely and securely in the White House, and watch the whole event unfold on a video transmission.
None of the intelligence agencies changed leadership when Obama took office. That means it was the same guy leading the intelligence (CIA, etc) for the Bush administration as well as the Obama administration.
That means Obama had nothing to do with it. Get real.
dude really,..........yeah, let's just go spend more money on war......do you realize that's what is costing this nation the most money............we need to strengthen our security keep an eye on our borders and let the rest of the world do what they want with themselves.........kill each other, let em...............kill ours respond...................tired of all this pro-war testosterone crap the Republicans juice up on. The world makes fun of us for trying to police them..................do you wanna be like Rome??????????? It fell remember. You know why?..........because they tried to rule everybody!
That's funny if Bush was so great then why does your party not even acknowledge that he existed?
Ya gotta laugh loudly, that two IRANIAN fighter pilots (ok, attack pilots) couldn't shoot down a slow, (and slow enough that a slingshot could bring it down), drone! I think nobody (especially Israel), needs to worry about Iran. LOL
Good for them. Hope they hit the next one, not our business patrolling their shores
Rob:If the drone was outside the recognized 12 mile nautical zone,it wasn't in Iranian airspace,itt happened to be in internantional airspace.Read the article again and try to absorb some of the material written.Are you capable of doing that?
We have no moral legitimacy to be involved in the Middle East at all, let alone telling other nations what to do within their own borders. America isn't the world police. Good on Iran. Someone needs to stand up to American military imperialism.
The problem is what would the U.S. do if Iran flew a spy drone 12 miles off the coast of Virginia or New York City? Or the Naval Academy? or our Hawaii Ship Docks?
You believe the article? I am sure that drone was just taking beautiful pictures of the landscape.
No more wars for Israel!
Israel was against the Iraq war. They had Saddam as #7 on the threat board. They had zero to do with Afghanistan.
Perhaps you should learn before you mindlessly repeat propaganda. (and hatred). Perhaps until then you could call yourself Paleo Lithic.
We will always be there for Israel, it is at the foremost of our policy – and should always be. Both sides agree, and should.
“Israel is a true friend,” President Obama said -. “It is our greatest ally in the region. And if Israel is attacked, America will stand with Israel.”
One of his few statements I agree with.
Obama: On the behalf of the United States, we are sorry you shot our drone.
Obama will apologize to Iranians that got suckered into a SKETCHY deal from one of Mormon Bishop Mitten's Chinese companies! LMAO
On behalf of the U.S. sorry Osama that we shot you in the head. It wasn't our fault, our President made us do it.
Didn't any of your RIGHT-WING brothers tell you ... Bush lied about Bin Laden too! LMAO
. . .their action was spontaneous and we have nothing to do with this video ( ! )
You should be arrested for daring to say that he would apologize for that.
Thank you for your support for the 1st Amendment
Right before he sends the SEALs in. Seriously, how could anybody with half a brain think that Obama's a wuss after the troop surge in Afghanistan, the US involvement in the Libyan Revolution, the Bin Ladin raid, those numerous drone strikes around the Middle East, and our steady increase in military spending?
Sounds like a false flag operation to me. Anything to justify an attack on Iran.
I agree
It in no way resembles a false flag op. It perfectly fits a cold-war-era pattern of aggressive probing of air assets to indicate a willingness to fight as a way to exert diplomatic pressure and to discourage increasing of surveIllance, exactly something a nation trying to gloss over the fact that their "nuclear energy" program is building bombs is going to do.
It's really very simple. Iran is building nukes. We (the West) are trying to discourage this or stop it outright. We want pictures of facilities and are watching their shipping to see any movement of weapons. They are harassing and trying to up the ante of our doing so.
This is all a pattern of rising tensions as a result of the Iranians being hell bent on the destruction of Israel and us being unwilling to do more to stop them early. And it's going to end in a terrible and much bigger war than this generation has ever seen if the president doesn't do better than this, and if the press doesn't stop covering for him.
So you think Iran wants a nuclear weapon just to destroy Israel? I don't believe it. I believe they want a nuclear weapon because they are afraid they will become the next Iraq who didn't have any WMD's. Look at Pakistan. They were protecting Bin Laden and why didn't we go fight them? Because once you have nuclear weapons no one will mess with you.
You do realize that all 16 (what sort of whack-job country needs 16) US "intelligence Agencies" have concluded that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program?
Who's telling you otherwise?
Oh, right Nutjob Netanyahu.
CNN need look no further than this sort of drivel to explain why it's dying.