Iran says it flew drone over US aircraft carrier

Tehran: Iran flew a surveillance drone over a US aircraft carrier and took “precise” photographs of it as part of an ongoing naval drill, state television reported Friday. An American official declined to comment on the claim.
The reported drone overflight comes after a series of naval incidents between Iran and the US in the greater Gulf, including test rocket fire by the Islamic Republic and its brief capture of American sailors who strayed into its territorial waters.
The brief report by state television said the drone flight occurred on the third day of the naval exercise, suggesting it happened Friday. Later, its website and the semi-official Fars news agency, which is close to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, published footage it said was of the drone’s flight.

The footage showed the drone launch and later hover above what appeared to be an aircraft carrier underway in a body of water.

The footage zoomed into a row of fighter jets on the carrier’s deck.Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the US Navy’s 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, said officials were “not in a position to verify the authenticity of the video as there are countless examples of similar footage to be found on the internet”.