Iran shoots down US MQ-9 drone, Revolutionary Guard says

Iran shoots down US drone, the Revolutionary Guard says: an MQ-9 was destroyed over the strait early Tuesday, its 54th such claim by its own count.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday.

The claim was carried by the semi-official Fars news agency; no US confirmation had been reported at the time of writing.

The Guard says it is the 54th US MQ-9 it has destroyed, a figure that has not been independently verified.

The downing takes place within a wider war that the US and Israel began against Iran on 28 February.

Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, and Washington later imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.

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