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The USS Boxer (file photo) Alexander Kubitza/PA Images
Strait of Homuz
US warship shoots down Iranian drone near Persian Gulf
It comes a number of weeks after Iranian forces shot down a US drone.
THE US MILITARY has shot down an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz.
President Donald Trump said the drone was shot down by a US warship after coming within 1,000 yards the naval vessel.
“The (USS) Boxer took defensive action against an Iranian drone which had closed into a very, very near distance, approximately 1,000 yards,” Trump announced at the White House.
“The drone was immediately destroyed.”
It comes a number of weeks after Iranian forces shot down a US naval surveillance drone.
The relationship between Tehran and Washington has been particularly strained since the US quit the a nuclear deal announced in 2015 last year, and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
The US has also bolstered its military presence in the Middle East recently and blacklisted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation.
With reporting from - © AFP 2019.
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