TEHRAN, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) denied on Wednesday that any of Iran's drones has been downed by the United States in the Strait of Hormuz region recently.
"I, hereby, announce officially that no drone belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran has been shot down," Major General Hossein Salami said in the western Iranian city of Khorramabad, according to the state TV.
The remarks by Salami came as a reaction to the U.S. claims on Tuesday that the U.S. forces took action against a second Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz last week.
"We are confident we brought down one drone, (and) we may have brought down a second," U.S. Central Command Chief General Kenneth McKenzie told CBS news in an interview aboard the USS Boxer, the ship that took action against the drones.
Iran has denied that it lost any of its own unmanned aerial vehicles, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the USS Boxer had downed one.
Salami said Wednesday that all of Iran's drones have flown back to their bases after the missions over the country's southern waters over the past weeks.
