Iran downs a U.S. drone: Is 'all-out war' next?

Tehran claims to have taken out a top-secret spy plane, potentially bringing a showdown over Iran's nuclear program closer

Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran
(Image credit: Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua Press/Corbis)

Over the weekend, as Iran claimed to have shot down one of the U.S. military's RQ-170 stealth drones, Washington confirmed that an unmanned drone had indeed vanished on a mission in Afghanistan near the Iranian border. The incident — a very serious one if it put sensitive technology in Iran's hands — will surely only increase tensions between Iran and the West, which is imposing sanctions and possibly sabotaging Iranian military sites to get Tehran to end its apparent quest for nuclear weapons. Is the drone downing a sign that "all-out war" with Iran is inevitable?

Yes. The covert war could escalate: The United States, in cooperation with Israel, is not merely headed for war with Iran, says Michael Hirsh at National Journal. The shooting has already begun. This weekend's events — the alleged drone downing and a bombing near the British embassy in Bahrain — were just the latest proof that the West is "engaged in a covert war against Iran's nuclear program," and that Iran "is retaliating with greater intensity than ever." Let's face it: "It's entirely possible the covert war could escalate into a real one."

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