Iran has said it used a new air defence system to shoot down a United States MQ-9 Reaper drone near the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, an incident analysts say shows that Tehran has retained its capacity to repel US and Israeli attacks despite months of strikes on its military sites.Iranian media said the drone was brought down near Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the interception marked the first combat use of a locally developed system called Arash-e Kamangir.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThere has been no independent corroboration of Iran’s claim of a new interception system.The US’s loss of a drone close to one of the world’s most sensitive shipping routes comes as it has reportedly carried out new attacks on an Iranian military site near Bandar Abbas. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later said it had attacked an “American airbase” in retaliation.As tensions between Iran and the US continue to rise despite a fragile ceasefire, Tehran’s claim that it intercepted a US drone has renewed questions about how much of Iran’s air defence capability survived months of Israeli and US attacks – and whether Iran retains the resilience to withstand another round of attacks should negotiations collapse.What has Iran said?Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency said the Arash-e Kamangir system was used to intercept …
