US Spy Drone Almost Done Being Decoded, Iran Says
Iranian experts are in the final stages of decoding information from the downed U.S. spy drone that was on display in Iran last week, according to a key Iranian lawmaker Parviz Sorouri.
Iran has been praising the downing of the sophisticated spy drone as an intelligence victory for the country arguing that the drone will enable Iran to blunt the U.S. technological edge over its adversaries and suggesting that Iran will reverse engineer the intelligence aircraft.
U.S. President Barack Obama publicly asked Iran to return the drone on Monday, admitting for the first time that Iran is in possession of the spy done, but did not offer any details regarding the intelligence data the drone contains.
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Iranian officials have declined to return the drone calling the entry of the drone into Iranian airspace a “hostile act.”
Iran will be using the information extracted from the downed drone to file a lawsuit against the United States for “invasion,” according to Sorouri.
“In the near future we will be able to mass produce it….Iranian engineers will soon build an aircraft superior to the American (drone) using reverse engineering,” Sorouri said on state television.
The bat-winged U.S. RQ170 Stealth Sentinel drone went missing on Dec. 4 along Afghanistan’s extensive border with Iran.
Iranian news agencies reported that Iranian military forces brought down the spy drone through a cyber-attack, but U.S. officials have denied the claims, arguing that Iran is unlikely to have the technological wherewithal to down the drone.
Instead, U.S. officials have blamed the downing of one of its most advanced surveillance drones on malfunction.
U.S. officials have also expressed skepticism that Iran has the capacity to replicate the drone without the help of China or Russia, due to the advanced nature of U.S. military capabilities.
Iranian officials have called the capturing of the drone “a great strategic and security achievement.”
Iran also claims to have shot down more than a dozen drones over the last several years.
