The government of Iran announced today that it had shot down an unmanned American surveilance drone over the eastern portions of the country. Iran also announced that it would retaliate with "actions beyond its own borders".
This is bad stuff. First of all, no one can know if Iran actually shot down a drone plane or if there even was a drone plane over Iran. I find it highly unlikely that the USA was sending such drones over Iranian airspace. Interestingly, the Iranian announcement said that the drone only suffered minimal damage when shot down, a statement that makes me think this is all a lie. The drones fly at reasonably high altitude and would crash a high speed if it were shot from the sky. There is no way this would result in minimal damage. Still, unless and until the Iranians show us the remains of the drone, we will never know for sure if they actually shot down a drone. (Obviously, the US armed forces know if they lost a drone, but that will neither be confirmed or denied.)
What is troubling to me, however, is the Iranian threat to retaliate for this supposed incursion. Iran's government knows that the sanctions which are gaining momentum as a result of having the secret police storm the British embassy is going to start hurting the average Iranian very soon. The mullahs need a foreign enemy to justify enduring the pain that will soon be forthcoming. Otherwise, they face the possibility of an uprising among the Iranian people.
I hope we do not soon see some sort of an attack against American interests by the Iranians or their proxy fighters.
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