U.S. Drone Shot Down over Yemen
A U.S. drone was shot down over Yemen late on Tuesday by a surface-to-air missile, U.S. officials said.
Officials believe Iran provided Houthi rebels with the missile, which downed the U.S. military MQ-9 drone southeast of Sanaa, capital of Yemen.
The U.S. is expected to publicly chastise Iran for the occurrence.
In June, Iran shot down an unmanned American military-surveillance drone over the Gulf of Oman, further damaging the already strained relationship between the two countries.
Afterwards, President Trump ordered military strikes on Iranian targets including radar and missile batteries but canceled the order at the last minute due to concerns about casualties.
Iran claimed that drone had trespassed over its territory, while the U.S. argued it was in international airspace.
News of the downed drone comes as Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned the U.S. Wednesday that Iran may act “unpredictably.”
“Mutual unpredictability will lead to chaos. President Trump cannot expect to be unpredictable and expect others to be predictable,” the foreign minister said during a speech in Stockholm.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have been heightened since the Trump administration reimposed the sanctions lifted under the Obama administration’s nuclear deal, which the U.S. announced its withdrawal from in May of last year.
