Getty ImagesA spate of mysterious drone sightings in the US are not the work of an Iranian “mothership” lurking off the east coast, the Pentagon says.
Dozens of drones have been spotted across New Jersey in recent weeks, including near sensitive military locations in the state.
One state lawmaker, Republican representative Jeff Van Drew, claimed on Wednesday that he heard from “high sources” that the flying objects are tied to Iran.
Van Drew’s claims were flatly rejected by deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh at a briefing on Wednesday.
“There is no truth to that,” she told reporters. “There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States.”
The Pentagon’s initial assessment, Ms Singh added, is that “these are not drones coming from a foreign entity or adversary.”
The Pentagon statement comes weeks after publicly unexplained drone incursions were reported over US airbases in the UK.
Dozens of sightings have been reported over New Jersey since 18 November, with 49 reported sightings on Sunday alone, Governor Phil Murphy said Monday.
Some of the flights have taken place near Picatinny Arsenal – a sensitive military research facility – as well as near President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in the town of Bedminster.
Murphy stressed that the drones don’t appear to pose a public safety concern.
The FBI has so far been unable to explain the sightings.
“I don’t have an answer of who’s responsible,” Robert Wheeler Jr, the assistant director of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group told lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Tuesday. “But we’re actively investigating.”
New Jersey assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia disavowed the Pentagon’s assertions.
“We know nothing, period,” she wrote. “To state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading.”
The Republican – who was briefed by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday – said the drones appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio.
Fantasia said the drones are up to 6ft (1.8m) in diameter, travel with lights turned off and “operate in a coordinated manner.”
While the mysterious objects are not believed to be hobbyist drones, Fantasia said it remains unclear what they are.
Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Van Drew claimed that the drones are coming from an Iranian “mothership” in the Atlantic.
“That mothership… is off the East Coast of the United States of America. They’ve launched drones into everything that we can see or hear,” Mr Van Drew said. “These are from high sources. I don’t say this lightly.”
He added that the drones should be “shot down”.
In late November, the United States Air Force confirmed that unidentified drones were spotted over three US airbases in the UK: RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk.
Defence sources told the BBC that suspicion had fallen on a “state actor” being responsible for the incursions.
An investigation is ongoing.
