An Iranian fighter jet had chased a US surveillance drone over the Gulf, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

An Iranian fighter jet had chased a US surveillance drone over the Gulf, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, said that the incident occurred on Tuesday (March) 12 as a US Predator drone was conducting a “routine classified” surveillance mission.

He said that said that in the episode on Tuesday, an Iranian F-4 jet fighter approached within 16 miles of the Predator, which was being escorted by a pair of American military aircraft. United States officials did not say what type of American planes were involved.

Earlier on Tuesday Commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said the Islamic Republic had identified and repelled an American U2 reconnaissance plane that was trying to intrude Iran’s airspace above the Sea of Oman on February 10.

The commander also stated that the radar-evading plane left the zone after receiving a warning from Iran’s air defense units.

The chase followed a more serious encounter in November, when the Iranian military had driven away an unidentified plane violating Iran’s airspace above its territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.