Report by PMOI/MEK
July 18, 2019 – US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, July 18 that a US warship has shot down an Iranian regime drone over the Strait of Hormuz. His announcement came hours after Iranian regime forces said they had seized a foreign tanker, the latest in a series of incidents that have heightened tensions in the region.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump said the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, took defensive action against the Iranian regime drone, which was “threatening the safety of the ship and the ship’s crew.” The drone was “immediately destroyed,” Mr. Trump added, in comments from the White House.
He called the approach by the drone the latest “of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters.”
A US Defense Department official confirmed that the drone came too close to the USS Boxer before it was shot down. The official said the ship was in the international waters when the encounter happened.
During an event at the White House, Trump said, “The Boxer took defensive action against an Iranian drone, which had closed into a near distance, approximately 1000 yards, ignoring multiple calls to stand down threatening safety of ship and ship’s crew.”
I want to apprise everyone of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz today, involving #USSBoxer, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship. The BOXER took defensive action against an Iranian drone…. pic.twitter.com/Zql6nAUGxF
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2019
