Iran 's navy has captured what it says is a U.S. drone after it entered Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf . However , a U.S. defense official , who could not be named because the official was not authorized to speak to the media , told CNN that whatever the Iranians claim to have , it is not an actively operating U.S. Navy drone . Read more : A dangerous new world of drones . `` The U.S. Navy has fully accounted for all unmanned air vehicles ( UAV ) operating in the Middle East region . Our operations in the Gulf are confined to internationally recognized water and air space , '' the source said . The internationally recognized territorial limit is 12 nautical miles off the coast . Read more : Key U.S. official defends use of drones . It is not yet clear whether any other branch of the U.S. military or government might have been operating a drone in the area . Iranian state media quoted Adm. Ali Fadavi , of Iran 's Revolutionary Guard Corps , as saying the unmanned aerial device was a ScanEagle . The device was spotted carrying out `` spying operations '' in the Persian Gulf area in the past few days and was captured by Revolutionary Guard anti-aircraft squads , according to Iran 's official news agency , IRNA . With a wingspan of just over 10 feet , the ScanEagle is designed to fly for 24 hours or more without refueling and can survive extreme weather conditions , according to its manufacturer . It can be launched from the ground or from a warship . The ScanEagle is a relatively low-cost , low-tech system and is operated by a number of U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf region . Iran has not given details of exactly how or when it captured the supposed U.S. device . Iran 's official Press TV channel showed footage of what was purported to be the drone . No identification markings were visible . Last month , the Pentagon said Iranian jets had fired on a U.S. drone as it flew off the Iranian coastline in the northern Persian Gulf . The armed MQ-1 Predator was on a routine surveillance mission above international waters , 16 miles off the coast , the Defense Department said . The latest announcement comes a year to the day after Iran claimed to have shot down another U.S. drone , a high-altitude RQ-170 Sentinel . It created a toy model of the drone , a much more sophisticated device than the ScanEagle , to celebrate its capture . U.S. officials said the RQ-170 Sentinel , a stealth drone developed for the Air Force to help provide intelligence , surveillance and reconnaissance , had crashed in the Iranian desert after leaving an airbase in Afghanistan . Read more about drones on CNN 's Security Clearance blog .
The U.S. Navy has accounted for all its drones , a U.S. Navy official says . United States is only in internationally recognized air space in the Gulf , says source . The drone was seized as it flew over the Persian Gulf , Iranian state media says . Iran 's Revolutionary Guard says the drone was collecting intelligence .