* Iran guards display what they says is captured drone
* U.S. says has not lost unmanned plane in Middle East
* Drones used in several Gulf nations for oil security
DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it had
captured a U.S. intelligence ScanEagle drone in its airspace
over the Gulf in the last few days, but the United States said
there was no evidence to support the assertion.
The U.S. Navy said had not lost any unmanned aircraft in the
area. The four-foot (1.25 metre) surveillance drones built by
Boeing Co are deployed in the region by the United States
military and also by other countries.
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "We
have no evidence that the Iranian claims are true."
The incident highlighted tensions in the Gulf as Iran and
the United States demonstrate their military capabilities in the
vital oil exporting region in a standoff over Iran's disputed
nuclear programme.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz
- through which about 40 percent of the world's seaborne crude
oil is shipped - if it comes under attack. U.S. commanders have
said they will not let that happen.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said on its website
that the drone had been flying over the Gulf in the last few
days and was "captured" when it strayed into Iranian airspace.
A spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain
said none of its drones were missing.
"The U.S. Navy has fully accounted for all unmanned air
vehicles (UAV) operating in the Middle East region. Our
operations in the Gulf are confined to internationally
recognised water and air space," Commander Jason Salata said.
The ScanEagle is an "off the shelf" spy plane manufactured
by Insitu, a unit of U.S.-based Boeing. The company also
supplies and operates drones for customers in several Middle
Eastern countries, including to help ensure oil platform
security in the Gulf, according to its website.
The U.S. military has been using the ScanEagle spy planes
since 2004 and they have become a relatively inexpensive way for
the United States and others to conduct surveillance.
Jill Vacek, a spokeswoman for Boeing subsidiary Insitu, said
the company had built 1,685 of the aircraft. Other military
customers include Canada, Australia, Poland, the Netherlands,
Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan, as well as "other U.S.
Department of Defense customers," she said.
One year ago, the company also announced an alliance with an
Abu Dhabi-based company to support ScanEagle and other unmanned
vehicles in the Middle East.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran had
warned the United States over its violations, and would use the
drone as evidence of American incursions to pursue its complaint
"via international bodies", IRIB News reported.
The IRGC statement did not specify when or where the drone
was found, nor whether it was shot down or crashed. It released
what it said was video of an apparently undamaged ScanEagle
being examined by uniformed officers beneath an English-language
sign reading "We shall trample on the U.S."
The incident is the latest in a string of complaints by Iran
over what it says are U.S. violations of its territory in an
often clandestine conflict over Tehran's nuclear programme that
has featured assassinations, espionage and cyber sabotage.
Iran and OPEC rival Saudi Arabia have also accused each
other of violating each other's territory near oil and gas
fields in the Gulf over the past year.
VIOLATIONS
In what a spokesman insisted was a coincidence, the U.S.
Navy posted a news release on its website on Tuesday boasting
about a new Puma AE airborne surveillance drone being tested
aboard ships of its 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain.
"High overhead, rain or shine, an elusive, yet sophisticated
surveillance equipment flies in areas that are difficult to see
with the naked eye," the statement said of the lightweight
high-winged monoplane.
In November, the United States said Iranian warplanes shot
at a U.S. surveillance drone flying in international airspace.
Iran said the aircraft had entered its airspace to spy on
Iranian oil platforms and said it would respond "decisively" to
any incursions.
Days later Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad
Khazaee, wrote to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to complain
about what he said were repeated U.S. violations of Iranian
airspace, describing them as "illegal and provocative acts".
Khazaee said that U.S. craft had entered southern Iran seven
times in October around Bushehr where Iran's only nuclear power
station is situated.
A year ago to the day, Iranian forces announced they had
captured a U.S. RQ-170 reconnaissance drone in eastern Iran
which was reported lost by U.S. forces in neighbouring
Afghanistan.
Iranian commanders have since announced they have extracted
valuable technology from the aircraft and were in the process of
reverse-engineering it for their own defence industry.
The United States and its allies believe Tehran is trying to
develop nuclear weapons and have imposed tough economic and
financial sanctions. Iran says its programme is purely peaceful.
Israel has threatened to bomb Iranian nuclear sites if
diplomacy and sanctions fail to stop its nuclear activities, and
Washington also says a military option is on the table. In
October, Israel shot down an Iranian-made drone launched into
the Jewish state by Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah.
According to Boeing's publicity material, the ScanEagle
drone can be launched by a catapult from mobile vehicles or
small ships, making it independent of runways.
It can fly pre-programmed or operator-run missions guided by
navigation satellites and its onboard flight control system. It
is retrieved using a "Skyhook" system in which the drone catches
a rope hanging from a 50-ft (16-metre) high pole.