The American RQ170 Sentinel captured in Iran, writes Amani Maged, may be evidence of advanced war technology in the Islamic republic Since the fall of the American Lockheed Martin RQ170 Sentinel, the unmanned aerial vehicle, in Iran, Iranians have lived in a state of political ecstasy, transcending the attendant risks. Many political analysts see the UAV crisis as an occasion for trouble that may lead to Washington following up threats of waging war on the Islamic republic; others feel the RQ170 is "a precious catch" of which the Iranians can be proud, pointing to new heights of technological advance. There have been different accounts of the incident, with Iranians announcing they downed the UAV while it engaged in an espionage operation in Iranian air and the Pentagon claiming the UAV had landed in Iran due to a technical fault. But when Tehran presented the plane to the international media, journalists were astonished to realise it did not look like it had incurred any damage (by falling from a great height, for example). Analysts think it is likely the Iranians had penetrated the remote control system of the plane, forcing it to land safely. This, indeed, is the story shown in a video recorded by the Iranian military, who say they managed to intercept the UAV electronically 225 km from the Afghan border. Yet the Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salihi said he had postponed announcing the capture of the plane in order to test the response of the USA, which later demanded the plane back; he affirmed that the Revolutionary Guard downed the plane without any foreign help; he even considered the incident a violation of Iranian airspace, calling on Iran's neighbour states not to allow the US to exploit their land and air. Iran turned down Obama's request to hand back the plane, demanding an apology for sending a spying UAV into Iranian airspace. According to the official spokesman for the Iranian foreign minister, Obama forgets that the purpose of the UAV had been to engage in espionage; Washington, he said, must apologise and admit to failure, acknowledging responsibility for an operation that may undermine global security and stability. For his part the Iranian defence minister Ahmed Vahidi, speaking to IRNA, said the UAV is the property of Iran, saying the UAV had violated Iranian airspace and that, instead of apologising, the Americans were demanding the plane back. In previous statements Major General Hussein Salami of the Revolutionary Guard had insisted Iran had no intention of handing back the plane. No one, he said, welcomes a spy plane in their airspace; any country will consider this an aggression against its national security. Nicknamed the Beast of Kandahar, the RQ170, which employs the latest radar-evading technologies, is among the most secret stealth aircraft in the American arsenal; the particulars of its design and capabilities are as yet classified. Such aircraft are reportedly widely used by the US in military operations in the Middle East. Stealth vehicles were used to eliminate Osama bin Laden. Pentagon officials have reportedly been frustrated and distressed about the incident, so much so that they initially considered destroying the UAV from the air -- whether by parachute or a limited-range strike -- but quickly dismissed the option. Such a step would be seen as Washington waging war against Tehran, which has already complained to the UN that the incident was a stark violation of the sovereignty of Iran. Yet there is no doubting the ecstasy felt by the Iranians after they laid hands on this precious catch. Analysts believe a hidden (electronic) war is already underway between Iran on the one hand and America and Israel on the other; this may well lead to a conventional war waged by America and Israel on Iran in the future, they feel. The importance of the incident is thus not only as an indicator of Iran's capabilities in war technology but also as a sign of the need for the West to think up new electronic war strategies if they are to deal with the Islamic republic.
