Maps from US and Iran give contradictory locations for US drone that got shot down

Javad Zarif/Twitter; Department of Defense; Business Insider

An overlay image showing where Iran says the US drone was while it was shot down (in yellow), and where the US says it was (in blue). The red dot shows where Iran fired its missile launcher at the drone, according to the US Department of Defense.

• The US and Iran disagree on whether Tehran had the right to shoot down a US Navy drone on Thursday morning.
• Iran says it shot down the drone because it entered Iranian airspace, while the US maintains that the drone was shot down in international airspace.
• Both sides have released maps with contradicting locations marking where the drone was shot down, which show many miles of sea between them.
• Visit Business Insider's home page for more stories.

Iran shot down a US Navy RQ-4 on Thursday, claiming that it had violated Iran's airspace.

The US denies that the drone crossed into Iran's territory, and says it stuck to international waters.

As tensions over the incident escalated, both the US and Iran issued more details over where they say the drone was, including a map of its final location before being shot out of the sky.

Here are the two maps in a gif, showing the two locations side-by-side.

The Strait of Hormuz is around 50 miles wide at the point where the drone was hit. The locations are not precise enough for precise measurements, but the two locations appear to be at least 10 miles apart.

In more detail, here is the Pentagon's map. The blue dot, marked "UAV Shoot-down Location," indicates where the US says the drone was shot down.

The red dot, marked "SoH SAM Launch Site," indicates where the US says Iran fired the missile.

Associated Press

This map provided by the Department of Defense on , Thursday shows the site where they say a US Navy RQ-4 drone was shot down.

And here are Zarif's maps. The yellow dot in the second image indicates where Iran says the drone was shot down.

Iran's IRIB news agency on Friday aired footage of what it says is the wreckage from the US drone that it shot down on Thursday, suggesting that Tehran got hold of the fragments before Washington did.

• Read more on Iran:
• Video appears to show Iran missile launcher blasting US drone out of the sky
• Iran shot down one of the US military's most advanced drones - it costs more than an F-35 stealth fighter
• Airlines cancel and divert flights passing over Iran after it shot down a US drone
• Trump's closest advisers are pushing him to go to war with Iran, but the president is so far resisting