A top Iranian official says the country held back from downing a U.S. plane with 35 people on board yesterday.
On Thursday, Iran shot down a surveillance drone flying over the Strait of Hormuz, prompting outrage among U.S. military leaders. The Pentagon drew up plans to respond by striking strategic targets in Iran Thursday night, but they were scrapped at the last minute.
Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerospace division, reportedly said that the country refrained from going a step further and attacking a plane accompanying the downed drone.
“With the U.S. drone in the region there was also an American P-8 plane with 35 people on board. This plane also entered our airspace and we could have shot it down, but we did not,” Hajizadeh said, according to state-run media.
The United States said it is sending an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East after a pair of oil tankers were attacked earlier this month. Last month, Iran targeted four other tankers.
