Iranians won't return the advanced RQ-170 Sentinel drone downed in their country late last year but they will give the White House a toy replica.
On Tuesday, Iranian Radio Payam reported that a local company is manufacturing a toy version of the stealth drone one eightieth of its size that will be shipped to the White House. News of the toy brinkmanship was first reported outside Iran by Reuters' Mitrak Amiri, who happened to be reporting on a ban on Barbie dolls by the state's morality police (children's toys are a hot topic in Iran right now). The report says the miniature drone will be sold in a "variety of colours." According to Trend, a news site in neighboring Azerbaijan, the toy will be 30x14 cm bearing the inscription "We will trample the U.S." While the Associated Press merely notes that a company is behind the toy's rollout, Trend cites an Iranian radio report attributing its production to a "group of Iranian youths."
"There will be a special ceremony on Feb. 1 marking the 34th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran," reads the report.
Since early December, Iran has said that it shot down the stealth drone and has used its capture to champion the country's military might. U.S. officials maintain that the drone wasn't shot down and on Monday, told Reuters that they now know how the craft crashed. (However, since military officials won't explain exactly how it malfunctioned or went off course, you just have to take their word for it.) In any case, given that President Obama personally stated the U.S. expects Iran to return the drone, responding to the commander-in-chief with a toy is quite the brazen act.
Update: The Washington Post reports that the Iranians reserved a pink-colored drone for President Obama.
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John Hudson
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