IRGC claims electronic warfare took down a US drone over Qeshm Island

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it knocked a US drone out of the sky over Qeshm Island on Thursday. In a Telegram post, the IRGC said its advanced electronic warfare systems brought down an American MQM-170 unmanned aerial vehicle over the island — which doubles as the country's oil hub. It's the second American drone Tehran's military claims to have taken down.

The claim lands days after President Donald Trump ordered a fresh airstrike on Qeshm Island, according to Breaking The News. The IRGC had already said it intercepted a US MQ-1 drone. There's been no confirmation of the takedown from Washington.

The phones were busy elsewhere too. Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi spoke Thursday, with al-Zaidi's office saying the pair stressed dialogue and diplomacy, containing tensions and stopping the conflict from spreading. Al-Zaidi insisted Iraq will not be used as a launching point for attacks on neighboring countries, and both sides agreed to keep Washington and Baghdad talking.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that the Trump administration held secret talks with Iran about deporting Iranian nationals through an unnamed third country, citing court documents. Judge Ana Reyes said sending people to Iran — which the US was at war with at the time — would pose a serious threat of certain death, per an October 15 transcript. Reyes also pointed to Trump's claim that Iran is essentially lawless.

In Moscow, Iran's National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin covered the postwar period and regional security arrangements free of foreign interference. Rezaei told Iranian state television he carried a message from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, and that Putin offered to help end the war, describing US and Israeli attacks as unwarranted.

Rezaei added that Tehran won't open the Strait of Hormuz until its seven conditions are met — and won't negotiate on it, Lebanese outlet Al-Mayadeen reported, citing an Iranian source. He said that during the same Moscow meeting, per the report. Between the drone claims, the back-channel talks and the closed strait, this standoff isn't cooling off anytime soon.