Iran: US spy agencies have been sending pilotless surveillance aircraft over Iran for nearly a year to probe Iranian air defences and to seek evidence of a nuclear weapons programme, the Washington Post reported yesterday, citing US officials.
The Iranian government, which has no diplomatic relations with Washington, has protested through the Swiss embassy in Tehran about the drones and about other alleged overflights by US military aircraft, claiming they are illegal under international law. The pilotless planes sent from US military bases in Iraq use radar, video, still photography and air filters designed to pick up traces of nuclear activity, the officials said.
The use of the drones is a significant escalation in what has so far been a war of words between Washington and Tehran as they could be seen as a prelude to eventual air attack. Three years ago, President Bush denounced Iran as a member of the "axis of evil", and in his State of the Union address last month he accused Tehran of being the primary sponsor of state terrorism, a reference to Iran's support for militant groups, such as Hizbullah, opposed to Israel.
Mr Bush has made it clear the Islamic Republic would not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and that the US had not ruled out the possibility of using military force.
Last month Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker that the US had been conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran for many months to gather intelligence and identify targets.
When the drones were spotted by Iranian civilians near the nuclear facilities in the southern cities of Isfahan and Bushehr in December they were thought to be UFOs and caused some panic, according to the Iranian media. Reports also appeared in Iran's newspapers at the end of last year about spy equipment being found in pilotless planes shot down by Iran's Revolutionary Guards near nuclear facilities.
However, the Washington Post said that Iran's National Security Council decided not to shoot down the aircraft as an attack was not considered likely any time soon. A US official told the Post that drones have been flown over Iran since Baghdad fell nearly two years ago but the missions became more frequent last year. One aim was to get the Iranians to turn on their radars so the US could learn about their defence systems but it did not work.
The Post quoted an Iranian official as saying that "the United States must have forgotten that they trained half our guys" and that Iran's national security officials ordered their forces not to turn on the radar or come into contact with the drones in any way. US officials also admitted that the drones have provided little new information about Tehran's nuclear programme.
In January, President Mohammad Khatami of Iran said he thought the US had too many problems in Iraq to attack his country but that Tehran had plans to react to any "lunatic action". Iran's Defence Minister Mr Ali Shamkhani claimed at the same time that Iran has developed a strong military capability and would repulse any attacks.
US Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice said last week that an attack on Iran was not on the agenda "at this time".
France, Germany and the UK are engaged in a diplomatic effort with Iran to defuse a crisis over its nuclear ambitions dating back to 2002, when Iranian defectors alleged the country was enriching uranium.