Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims fourth drone shootdown in four days near Hormuz

Iranian state media say a new air defence system downed a US MQ-1 drone, but no US military confirmation has followed the earlier claims.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it shot down a fourth MQ-1 drone in four days near the Strait of Hormuz, using what it described as a new air defence system. The claim was carried by Iranian state media and by outlets including Mehr News and Al-Manar.

Neither CNBC nor Mehr News Agency reported any US military or government confirmation of a drone loss, according to Traders Agency. A separate fact-check by MEAWW found no independent evidence confirming the shootdown. It is also unclear which aircraft Iran means by "MQ-1": the MQ-1 Predator was retired from US service in 2018, while the MQ-1C Gray Eagle remains active, according to Antiwar.com. Iran's regular army had separately claimed a similar shootdown in the southeast the previous week, Press TV reported.

The claim comes as diplomacy over shipping in the Strait has stalled. A meeting planned for Monday in Oman between Iran and Gulf Arab states, meant to discuss a shipping agreement for the Strait, was postponed for lack of "consensus", Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said, according to CBS News. Brent crude settled Monday at $105.68 a barrel and US crude near $101, more than 20% above a month earlier, after Saudi Arabia shut down a pipeline around the same time, Yahoo Finance/dpa reported.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the weekly average of oil shipments crossing the Strait under US Navy escort was rising and would keep rising, Reuters reported via CBS News. That flow, together with President Trump's stated openness to talks, sits alongside a run of unconfirmed Iranian shootdown claims that have so far drawn no acknowledgement from Washington.