Iran shoots down US drone

A US general in the region said Iran's action was "an unprovoked attack."

Lt. General Joseph Guastella, commander US Air Forces Central Command, said during a briefing at the Pentagon that the US drone never entered Iranian airspace.

Iran has claimed this happened in Iranian airspace but Guastella said that is “categorically false.” He added, “The aircraft was over the Strait of Hormuz, and fell into international waters. At the time of the intercept, the RQ-4 was operating at high altitude, approximately 34 kilometers from the nearest point of land on the Iranian coast."

Guastella was briefing Pentagon reporters remotely from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and did not take any questions

President Trump, who's meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House, was just asked if the US is going to war with Iran.

The two leaders will have a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi confirmed that there is an briefing this morning on Capitol Hill on Iran.

Members of the Gang of 20 – leaders from both the House and Senate and senior members — will be there. They will “learn more” about the ongoing situation in Iran during the briefing, she said. It is unclear who is briefing today.

There will also be a broader Iran briefing for more members between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., according to Pelosi. 

“I think it's a dangerous situation,” said Pelosi in today’s press conference when talking about Iran. “The high-tension wires are up in the region. We have to be strong and strategic about how we protect our interests. We also cannot be reckless in what we do.”

However, she doesn't believe President Trump wants to go to war, she said.

“There's no appetite for going to war in our country," Pelosi said. "I don't think the President wants to go to war."

The White House is holding a meeting today to discuss a response to Iran shooting down a US military drone, a person familiar with the plans tells CNN. 

An official now says that President Trump is attending the meeting alongside defense officials. Earlier CNN reported that Trump wasn't expected to attend.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, incoming Acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are all expected to be at the meeting.

The White House is holding a meeting this morning to discuss a response to Iran shooting down a US military drone, a person familiar with the plans tells CNN.

President Trump is not expected to attend the meeting right now. 

Here's who is expected to be there:

Currently, neither the White House nor the National Security Council have weighed in publicly.  

The Iranians want to send a clear message to the US: they are capable of hitting even advanced American equipment, and they won’t hesitate if they feel threatened.

The Iranians believe that President Trump does not want a war even though others in his administration — like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton — might be nudging Trump in that direction.

But Tehran considers the administration’s policy of maximum pressure, involving tough sanctions, to be economic warfare, and they want to show they are for ready an escalation.

President Trump just tweeted that "Iran made a very big mistake."

Meanwhile Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and close ally of Trump, spoke to the President this morning about the escalating threat from Iran.

He told reporters his message to Trump is that the US cannot be bullied into going to the negotiating table with Iran and he said the President understands that.

The US military drone shot down by Iran was an RQ-4A Global Hawk, US Central Command said in a statement Thursday.

The Global Hawk has amassed more than 250,000 flight hours and has flown in support of US missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, according to its developer, the US national security contractor Northrop Grumman.

The RQ-4A is the original block of the drone, which was later modernized as the larger RQ-4B.

Carrying multiple sensor payloads, the aircraft “is designed to gather near-real-time, high-resolution imagery of large areas of land in all types of weather – day or night,” Northrop says.

A 2013 report from the US Government Accountability Office said each drone, which can reach altitudes of 60,000 feet (18.3 km), costs $222.7 million.

The Golden Hawk’s technology was later developed into the MG-4C Triton, a newer range of drone.

Iranian forces have shot down a United States military drone today, a move that could escalate an already tense relationship between the two countries.

If you're just catching up on the news, here's where things stand now:

UPDATE: A US official previously identified to CNN the model of the drone as a MQ-4C Triton, but US Central Command later said it was an RQ-4A Global Hawk.