Iran pulling data from captured drone

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TEHRAN, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Iranian officials are examining data taken from an alleged U.S. surveillance drone to figure out what information the United States wants, a commander said.

Iranian forces this week said they captured a U.S. surveillance drone that violated Iranian airspace. A U.S. Navy spokeswoman said, however, the military was able to account for all unmanned aerial vehicles operating in the Persian Gulf region.

Iran's Press TV reported Wednesday that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was able to extract date from the drone. The IRGC's public relations department said it believed the drone was spying on Iranian military sites and oil transferred from Iranian terminals.

"The reaction the Americans have to the capture of their drones indicates the importance of this matter to them," the department was quoted as stating. Extracting the data, the department said, would help determine "what kind of data they (the Americans) are after."

Last year, the Iranian military said it retrieved an RQ-170 drone that had been flying under the authority of the CIA. The latest drone is said to be a low-cost Boeing ScanEagle, which isn't exclusive to the U.S. military.

Iran last month said it fired on "an unidentified plane" near its airspace the week before U.S. presidential elections.