In December, the United States' RQ-170 Sentinel drone was captured by the Iranian government. The U.S. government insisted the drone was in operation over East Afghanistan and came down only due to "technical malfunction."
President Obama called for the drone to be returned, but on December 11th, the Iranian government made it clear they would not comply with President Obama's request with regards to the United States' "hostile act" of impeding upon Iranian airspace.
Now, the Iranian government has agreed to return the drone but only a miniature version that is 1/80th the size of the original. The miniature version will also be available for Iranian customers to purchase at stores for the United States' currency equivalent of $4.00.
Hillary Clinton, the United States' Secretary of State, admits that even with the formal request, "we do not expect [Iran] to comply."
2 comments:
I agree with Hilary Clinton, that drone is not coming back. The Iranian government is probably going to keep it- take it apart, try to figure out exactly what we were using it for, how we created it so they can create something more advanced. Also, the drone probably had a surveillance tape in it that they don't want us getting back. Furthermore, I think that they are also keeping the drone given that we meddle in everyone's affairs and the drone is international proof that we were meddling in their affairs. Iran keeping our drone and giving us a miniature is an embarrassment-the joke is on us now.
I would like to think that if the drone had a ton of secrets, the US would be making a bigger fuss to get it back. I think Iran's action of manufacturing mini drones is somewhat hilarious, but also foreboding as this could be the mark of a rapid decline of relations between Iran and the US. Also, with Iran potentially starting to build nuclear materials, it will be very interesting to see in what ways the US responds as they do not make matters worse.
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