US Navy shoots down Iranian drone after it came close to a warship.

File photo of the USS Boxer. Reuters.

The US Navy has shot down an Iranian drone after it came close to an amphibious landing ship, the USS Boxer. Reuters. The drone came within 1000 meters of the ship, which was sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, and ignored multiple commands to turn back. Iran said they had no information about losing a drone. The incident comes after last month's destruction of a US drone by Iran, which almost led to airstrikes. Iran has also seized a Panamanian flagged oil tanker after it accused the ship's crew of smuggling Iranian oil. Washington has committed to keeping the Strait of Hormuz open for international trade. 

My Comment:

This may seem like a major incident, but I really don't think it is. After all, it was just a drone that was shot down, not a manned airplane. It's an incident for sure, but not one that likely has much in the way of consequences. 

It's unclear how big this drone was and how it was shot down. The Iranian drones I have seen have been fairly small but who knows how big this one was? And it's unclear how the drone was shot down. It may have been the USS Boxer's anti-missile Phalanx system, but the ship also has anti-air missile batteries. Wikipedia says it may have been electronic warfare, jamming the signal of the drone, which is also a very strong possibility. 

It's very likely that this was a surveillance drone. Iran had in the past used those drones to take some pretty good pictures of US warships. My guess is that this was another of those flights, but the crew of the USS Boxer didn't want to take any chances that it was an attack, so they shot it down. Given the heightened state of tension in the region, such an action was more than justified. Any attack by a drone on a warship like the USS Boxer could have caused quite a bit of damage. 

I don't expect that this will have a big impact. For it's part, Iran is denying the drone ever existed and say they have no information about the incident. That's almost certainly a lie but I think it's one based on face saving more than anything else. They are still trying to milk the downing of a US drone and don't want their people to know that their drones are just as vulnerable. 

Much more concerning is the seizing of a oil tanker that the Iranians say was smuggling oil. The crew of that ship are now hostages and the ship itself is valuable. There may be military attempts to recover both the ship and the crew and that's a lot more dangerous than some silly drone getting shot down. 

Iran is playing a dangerous game here. I know that sanctions are costing them quite a bit but risking a war over these stupid stunts in the Strait of Hormuz is not going to help things. If they were smart they would stop this nonsense and come to the negotiating table with President Trump...