Washington ( CNN ) -- A U.S. stealth drone that crashed in Iran last week was part of a CIA reconnaissance mission which involved both the intelligence community and military personnel stationed in Afghanistan , two U.S. officials confirmed to CNN Tuesday . A senior U.S. official with direct access to the assessment about what happened to the drone said it was tasked to fly over western Afghanistan and look for insurgent activity , with no directive to either fly into Iran or spy on Iran from Afghan airspace . A U.S. satellite quickly pinpointed the downed drone , which apparently sustained significant damage , the senior official said . `` The Iranians have a pile of rubble and are trying to figure what they have and what to do with it , '' the senior U.S. official said . The drone crashed solely because its guidance system failed , the official said . Officials confirmed to CNN it was an RQ-170 drone that was lost . Another U.S. official confirmed that when the drone crashed , the United States briefly considered all potential options for retrieving the aircraft or bombing the wreckage , but those ideas were quickly discarded as impractical . The officials have direct knowledge of the events , but spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the intelligence matters . CIA officials have declined to comment . Indications of the intelligence community 's involvement in the drone incident emerged over the weekend , when NATO 's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan issued a statement saying , `` The UAV ( unmanned aerial vehicle ) to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week . The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status . '' Several coalition officials said at the time they had no direct knowledge of the incident and they were essentially ordered to put out this statement . It 's significant that the statement only says `` operators '' of the UAV , without saying which part of the military or U.S. government might have been operating it , one coalition official said . U.S. officials are discounting the Iranian claim that they shot the drone down . The United States continues to say the crew of the UAV lost flight control and the drone then entered Iranian airspace . American officials over the years have been adamant that U.S. assets do not fly over Iranian air space . The RQ-170 Sentinel is a stealth drone developed by Lockheed Martin for the Air Force to help provide intelligence , surveillance and reconnaissance . Iranian media reported that the RQ-170 was slightly damaged and in the hands of Iranian forces . `` Armed forces with a dominant control over the country 's borders managed to identify and down the invading plane , '' reported Iran 's official news agency , the Islamic Republic News Agency . An unnamed Iranian military official called it a `` clear example of aggression '' and added that Iran is `` fully ready to counter any aggression , '' the report said . In July , Iran 's military made a similar claim , saying it downed a U.S. `` spy drone '' flying near its Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in Qom province . But Iran backtracked on the statement a few days later , saying the incident was actually part of a training exercise .
NEW : Guidance system failed , Iran official said . U.S. claimed to have shot down the drone . The RQ-170 Iranian drone crashed in Sentinel territory . The unmanned aircraft was part of a NATO reconnaissance mission .