DUBAI — Iran's air defence systems shot down a US LUCAS drone over the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the Iranian army said on Sunday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Reuters reported. LUCAS stands for Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System, a one-way attack drone design.

Source: Reuters via Northland News Radio, Oct 25, 2026

Citing the military's public relations department, Tasnim said the drone was destroyed by the fire of the Air Defense Force's systems, operating under the country's integrated air defence network, Anadolu's reporting of the Iranian statement said. The Iranian army did not publish independently verifiable wreckage evidence in the reports available at publish time.

Source: Anadolu via Bytes Europe, Oct 25, 2026

There was no US confirmation of the reported shoot-down in the wire reporting available when this story was published. Awaaz Punjab is treating the shoot-down as an Iranian claim, not as a confirmed event: claims by either side in this war are attributed to their source until independent reporting confirms them.

Source: Reuters via Northland News Radio, Oct 25, 2026

In a separate claim reported this week, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its air defences had downed a US MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz on October 20, which it described as the 54th drone its forces had brought down since the US-Israeli campaign against Iran began on February 28. That claim, too, was an Iranian statement and was not independently confirmed in the reporting.

Source: The Daily Jagran / The World Opinion, Oct 25, 2026

The reported shoot-down came a day after President Trump, speaking after voting in Florida, said the US was considering a possible attack on Iran as soon as Sunday — or a major agreement — while Iran's president blamed Washington for the collapse of an interim deal. Read: Trump says US could strike Iran tomorrow, or strike a beautiful deal

Bandar Abbas is Iran's main southern port and sits on the northern shore of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas passes. Any confirmed US-Iran exchange of fire around the strait is watched closely in the Gulf — where lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers live — because it can move oil prices, shipping and flights within hours. Diplomatic efforts involving Pakistan and Qatar to produce a breakthrough have so far struggled, reporting on the tensions noted.

Source: The Daily Jagran, Oct 25, 2026