Iran’s Revolutionary Guards hacked and brought down a foreign surveillance drone during a military exercise, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed in a statement Saturday that the foreign spy drone was hacked during the first day of the war games, known as “Payambar-e Azam 8” (The Great Prophet 8). The war games are being held in Kerman region in the southeast Iran.

The agency reported General Hamid Sarkheili, the spokesman of the war games, as saying that the IRGC had observed all foreign spy drone movements and controlled them during the war games.

"We have managed to bring down a drone of the enemy. This has happened before in our country," Sarkheili said, adding that “for the first time, our special modern warfare task forces are conducting specialized operations.”

He said that IRGC Ground Force tested different asymmetric tactics and various types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs), including its suicide drones, as well as its special modern warfare units on the first day of the war games.  

However, the statement did not give information on which country the drone belonged to.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said that he had seen the reports. He noted that the Iranians had not specifically claimed that it was an American drone, Reuters reported.

In November, Iran claimed of capturing a U.S. surveillance drone. In August 2011, a lightweight RQ11 Raven drone was brought down by the Iranian air defense forces, Reuters reported.

Iran has claimed of mastering the drone technology and also announced that their own plans to build drones were in an advanced stage.

Iran has been accusing the U.S. drones of breaching into their air territory. It has claimed of firing at the surveillance machines.  Tensions mounted between the U.S. and Iran after several such incidents were reported in the Gulf region last year. 

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