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Iran's Revolutionary Guard troops in a military parade outside Tehran, Iran in September. Vahid Salemi/AP/Press Association Images

Iran says it decoded data from captured CIA drone

Tehran now claiming it will reverse-engineer the drone and build its own version.

IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD said today that it has decoded all of the data from an advanced CIA spy drone captured last year.

The Guard’s aerospace chief, General Ami Ali Hajizadeh, told state-run Press TV that that the RQ-170 Sentinel craft had not carried out missions over nuclear facilities before it went down in December 2011 near the eastern border with Afghanistan.

Tehran had previously said it recovered information from the top-secret stealth aircraft, but Monday’s announcement suggests technicians may have broken encryptions.

“All data from the drone have been completely decoded. We know where it travelled step by step,” Hajizadeh was quoted as saying. “After decoding, our experts discovered that this drone had not carried out even a single nuclear mission over Iran.”

Hajizadeh said Iran had captured the drone and decoded its data without any assistance, including from its allies China and Russia. Iran has said it would reverse-engineer the drone and build its own version.

Last week, the Guard claimed it captured another US drone after it entered Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf, showing an image of what it said was a Boeing-designed ScanEagle drone on state TV.

The Islamic Republic has been trumpeting its possession of the drones in an attempt to embarrass Washington over its alleged surveillance of Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Hajizadeh said Iran had previously acquired a ScanEagle drone and produced a copy of that, but did not provide evidence to back up the claim.

Last month, Tehran claimed that a US drone violated its airspace. The Pentagon said an unmanned Predator aircraft came under fire at least twice while flying over international waters but was not hit.

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    Mute Enda Walsh
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    Mar 21st 2016, 12:07 PM

    Another tragic incident on our roads. I note the deceased person had to be brought 40km to Ballinasloe and the injured pair 75km to Tullamore. Surely an urban area of this size deserves access to emergency facilities which are within a reasonable distance

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    Mute Thomas Ryan
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    Mar 21st 2016, 12:18 PM

    well considering up until five years ago there was an A&E in Roscommon Town which was shut by FG/LAB despite promises before that election they would keep it open, just like if anyone gets injured in a match in Dr Hyde Park which is right beside the hospital they have to brought to ballinasloe, Mullingar, Sligo, Tullamore etc

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    Mute James Costello
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    Mar 21st 2016, 10:10 AM

    Tragic, but on another note this is mental how many people are being killed on our roads. In last few days there was a lot killed. So sad!

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    Mute Enda Walsh
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    Mar 21st 2016, 12:10 PM

    Another tragic incident on our roads. I note the deceased person had to be brought 40km to Ballinasloe and the injured pair 75km to Tullamore. Completely unacceptable for an urban centre of this size not to have access to emergency facilities which are within a reasonable distance.

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    Mute Shawn Rahoon
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    Mar 23rd 2016, 2:45 AM

    RIP

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