Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Monday that its air defense forces shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
According to an official statement released by the IRGC Public Relations Department and reported by Iran’s Mehr News Agency, the long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was hit by surface-to-air missile fire early Monday morning, causing the aircraft to crash into the waters of the Persian Gulf. The IRGC credited its modern air defense units for monitoring and intercepting the asset, describing the shootdown as a defensive response to aerial incursions along Iran’s maritime boundaries.
The incident follows a dramatic surge in military activity across the choke point. On Sunday, U.S. forces carried out targeted airstrikes against two Iranian launch installations on Larak Island that Washington alleged were preparing to launch sea-mine payloads into shipping corridors. The IRGC reported civilian and military casualties from those strikes and vowed swift retaliation.
The downing marks the latest in a series of drone losses suffered by U.S. forces operating in the region as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions face increasingly dense Iranian air defense coverage along the critical oil transit route.
