Iran: the Pasdaran shoot down a US drone in the Strait of Hormuz. Hegseth makes a surprise visit to Netanyahu
The US Secretary of Defence meets the Israeli Prime Minister against the backdrop of a possible resumption of fighting
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed to have intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-9 drone in the Strait of Hormuz in the early hours of Tuesday. This was reported by the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB. According to the statement, the drone was shot down by an advanced air defence system, operated by the Pasdaran’s aerospace forces and integrated into Iran’s air defence network.
The offensive by the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen is also continuing. The Saudi-led coalition has announced that it has intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the Saudi capital, Riyadh. This was reported by the satellite TV channel al-Arabiya.
Tehran and its allies, therefore, are not backing down, either in deed or in word. “The United States, Israel and all those who support their state-sponsored terrorism will bear full responsibility for the consequences of any further aggression, including the risk of an unpredictable and uncontrollable escalation of tensions,” stated the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations, Gholamhossein Darzi, in a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and to the Security Council.
According to the IRNA news agency, in his letter Darzi urged the UN to condemn the ‘relentless’ threats from the United States and Israel regarding further attacks, including those involving the ‘mother of all bombs’, and to convene an emergency meeting to assess the situation. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guards’ security adviser, Mohammadreza Naghdi, stated that ‘if the United States launches a ground attack, many of its troops will be captured by Iran, and the US will then be forced to raise the white flag’.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel in the last few hours. This was reported to Axios by two sources with knowledge of the matter. The surprise visit comes eight days before the Israeli elections, 14 days before the US mid-term elections, and against the backdrop of discussions between the United States and Israel regarding the possibility of resuming large-scale combat operations against Iran.
