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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Monday it has delivered a formal request to Iran for the return of a U.S. surveillance drone captured by Iranian armed forces, but is not hopeful that Iran will comply.

President Barack Obama said that the U.S. wants the top-secret aircraft back. "We have asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," Obama said during a White House news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday.

He wouldn't comment on what the Iranians might learn from studying the downed aircraft.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was not optimistic about getting the drone back because of recent Iranian behavior that she said indicated "that the path that Iran seems to be going down is a dangerous one for themselves and the region."

"We submitted a formal request for the return of our lost equipment as we would in any situation to any government around the world," Clinton told reporters at a State Department news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

"Given Iran's behavior to date we do not expect them to comply but we are dealing with all of these provocations and concerning actions taken by Iran in close concert with our closest allies and partners," she said.

Neither Obama nor Clinton would provide details of the drone request, but diplomatic exchanges between Washington to Tehran are often handled by Switzerland, which represents U.S. interests in Iran. The State Department said Monday that the Swiss ambassador to Iran met with Iranian foreign ministry officials last week but refused to say what they discussed.

Iran TV reported earlier Monday that Iranian experts were in the final stages of recovering data from the RQ-170 Sentinel, which went down in Iran earlier this month. Tehran has cited the capture as a victory for Iran and displayed the nearly intact drone on state TV. U.S. officials say the aircraft malfunctioned and was not brought down by Iran.

Despite the incident, Clinton said the administration and its allies would continue to push Iran to engage over its nuclear program while at the same time increasing pressure on the regime with new, enhanced sanctions.

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Originally posted by Bytemite:
Riona: right on. The fact that we didn't do the obvious, or, indeed, what I believe is supposed to be standard operating proceedure here, makes me wonder if there isn't more going on than the surface story.

I can't tell yet if this is factions we can't see in our own government in conflict with each other, collaboration between the three major nations under a veneer of hostility, or actual incompetence on our part. We may never know.

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Originally posted by Hero:
The obvious solution to is blow it up. We don't know where it is? Thats ok, we have lots of very, very big bombs and Iran has lots of things worth blowing up.

Its simple, we call up Iran and say, "give me my drone", they say "no", we say "or else", they say "or else what", we give them satalite picture of every Iranian military facility and the homes of every Iranian Mullah and the President and say "24 hours then boom" along with the location of a nice quiet spot in the desert to park our drone.

Then they either put the drone where we can safely blow it up or we systematically flatten Iran. Slowly. With running commentary. "Oh, sorry was that your house...too bad." "Oops, was your airforce using that airfield, gosh, thats so unfortunate." "Those naval vessels were yours, oh my..." "Did you need that Revolutionary Guard barracks? Cause I was aiming for the drone and assumed when it said 'training facility' it meant 'infidel drone storage center', Persian is such a complicated language."

And we bill them for the weapons we use, because really this is all their fault.

H

"Hero. I have come to respect you." "I am forced to agree with Hero here."- Chrisisall, 2009.
"I agree with Hero." Niki2, 2011.

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(Reuters) - A U.S. drone aircraft crashed at Seychelles International Airport on Tuesday, the U.S. embassy in Mauritius said.

"A U.S. Air Force remote-piloted MQ-9 crashed at the Seychelles International Airport in Mahe. The MQ-9 was not armed and no injuries were reported," the embassy said in a statement.

The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) confirmed the incident and said that the plane was on a "routine patrol" and had crashed because of mechanical failure.

The U.S. embassy did not comment on the plane's mission and said that the cause of the crash was unknown.

Iran announced on December 4 it had downed a U.S. drone in the eastern part of the country, near Afghanistan. It has since shown the plane on television and said it is close to cracking its technological secrets.

(Reporting by George Thande; Writing by Barry Malone)

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Leave it to Rappy to find a way to be angry at Obama about it.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Leave it to Rappy to find a way to be angry at Obama about it.

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Every American should be upset at this, regardless of who is President.

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Originally posted by Bytemite:
Totally how diplomacy works. Weren't you all afraid that Iran might have a nuclear bomb? I mean, just because they're trying to engineer the technology doesn't mean that they haven't just bought one from Russia or China.

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
My understanding is that we were violating foreign airspace by flying spycraft over it. They are probably well within their rights to keep the craft.

Violating foreign airspace could be construed as a hostile action.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

Obama's asking the Iranians to give our drone back is nothing short of demoralizing. It smacks of a kid, asking the neighbor for his baseball back, after having knocked it through the neighbor's window.

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Your right, but that assumes the US and Iran are equal. They are not. We have every right to violate their airspace...because we can and will and if they are really all that upset they can declare war on us (which is their sole remedy) and see what that gets them.

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We should have used the carrot/stick approach. You know, where you beat them with the stick after shoving the carrot up their ass. Works every time and makes everyone involved feel better.

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Originally posted by Hero:

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
My understanding is that we were violating foreign airspace by flying spycraft over it. They are probably well within their rights to keep the craft.

Violating foreign airspace could be construed as a hostile action.

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Your right, but that assumes the US and Iran are equal. They are not. We have every right to violate their airspace...because we can and will and if they are really all that upset they can declare war on us (which is their sole remedy) and see what that gets them.

I know it sounds harsh and unfair, but my approach and reasoning has solid basis in both history and international law. Your the one who wants to create a fiction of soveriegn equality that has no basis in reality. Luxemburg cannot dictate to France, Kuwait cannot dictate to China, Rhode Island can't tell New York what to do.

But people will hate us? Wow, wonder what that would be like. The Iranians will resort to terror? Again, we're already there. People will protest in the streets? Eh, the 99% thing was getting old and those kids needs to keep warm anyway this time of year.

H

"Hero. I have come to respect you." "I am forced to agree with Hero here."- Chrisisall, 2009.
"I agree with Hero." Niki2, 2011.

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If any of those side with Iran, we have more of a problem, which is nothing compared to the problem we have if Russia and China do, as we would be at war with the entire continent.

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Incidentally, their 'sole remedy' is not to declare war on us. Their 'sole remedy' is to spit in our faces, say no, and watch us rail impotently.

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
I suppose I hold my country to a higher standard of responsibility than you do. What they are free to do is what we allow them to do, and I would strongly oppose any more belligerences aimed at Iran.

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I will posit a counterpoint.

Going to war with Iran is so fiscally irresponsible that it should earn the United States leadership a removal from office.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
So, um... "Hero",


Why do you assume that "they can't win"?


The U.S. has already been beaten by lesser foes.

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Originally posted by dreamtrove:

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Hero:

When a country violates your soveriegnty you can fuss, complain, refuse to trade with them, but if they continue to do it...war is the only solution.

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I feel quite blessed that the Iranians don't think the way Hero does.

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:

I don't care if they have our remote-controlled airplane. We need to get off their lawn. Indeed, we need to stop vandalizing the whole neighborhood. We can't afford to pay the fines.

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That was awesome.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:

I managed to learn from the affair.

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