Iran shot down a US drone near the Strait of Hormuz early on Thursday, amid rising tensions between Tehran and Washington.
The US military's Central Command said the drone, an RQ-4 Global Hawk, was downed in international airspace, describing it as an "unprovoked attack".
The drone was hit at 3.35am UAE time, according to a statement released by Centcom spokesman Navy Captain Bill Urban.
"Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false," Capt Urban said. "This was an unprovoked attack on a US surveillance asset in international airspace."
But the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it brought the drone down over Iranian territory after it violated Iranian airspace.
"The US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down" in Iran's southern coastal province of Hormozgan, according to Iranian Press TV.
State television did not show images of the drone.
On Thursday, state TV reported that the IRGC advised against any aggression against Tehran, saying that the downing of the drone carried a "clear message" to the US.
"The downing of the American drone was a clear message to America ... our borders are Iran's red line and we will react strongly against any aggression ... Iran is not seeking war with any country, but we are fully prepared to defend Iran," said commander-in-chief Hossein Salami.
The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the US.
The US has accused Iran of being behind a series of operations against oil tankers in highly sensitive Gulf waters.
Tehran has denied involvement.
Hormozgan borders the Strait of Hormuz, where the tanker attacks took place.
The relationship between Tehran and Washington has been particularly strained since the US last year withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
On Monday, the US announced it will send 1,000 extra troops to the Middle East to counter Iranian threats. In April, the US blacklisted the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.
But Tehran's top security official said Wednesday there was no reason to worry about a conflict breaking out.
"There will be no war [between Iran and the US] since there is no reason for a war," said rear admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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