Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has released video it says shows the moment its air defenses shot down a US MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. The footage shows a radar screen with green and yellow reticles locking onto an airborne target, followed by an impact, a burst of smoke, and the object falling into the water below, before closing on the IRGC's logo. The Guard's public relations office said the drone was detected and engaged using a new air-defense system operated by its Aerospace Force under Iran's integrated air-defense network, and claimed the same system has now demonstrated the ability to intercept both MQ-1 and MQ-9 drones.

The MQ-1, nicknamed the "Butcher of Kandahar" after logging some 20,000 flight hours over Afghanistan, had largely been retired from US Navy and Air Force service years ago in favor of the newer MQ-9 Reaper. Iranian state media suggested its reappearance in the skies over Hormuz reflects mounting American losses, claiming the US Congressional Budget Office has confirmed at least 24 MQ-9 Reaper drones lost since the war with Iran began on February 28. Iran has made a string of similar claims throughout September alone, part of a broader pattern of asserting control over the airspace above one of the world's most vital oil shipping chokepoints. None of these individual shootdown claims have been independently verified by US officials, who have not commented on this latest incident.