Lawmaker: 'Technical' problem brought down US spy drone in Iran

The head of the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday said a "technical" problem — and not an Iranian electronic attack — felled a highly classified American spy drone captured earlier this month by Tehran.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said several times during an appearance at a Foreign Policy Initiative-sponsored forum in Washington that Iranian claims that one of its electronic warfare units brought down a U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aircraft are false.

Iranian television broadcast pictures of an unmanned plane, saying it was the U.S. RQ-170.

Pentagon and Obama administration officials initially said such a drone went missing after a mission in western Afghanistan, near the Iran border. But they stopped short of confirming that it was in Tehran's hands.

That changed on Monday, when President Obama confirmed the reports, adding during a White House briefing with his Iraqi counterpart: "We have asked for it back. We’ll see how the Iranians respond."

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