In a post on his X account, Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi responded sarcastically to Cooper's podcast recording, referring to the repeated downing of expensive US unmanned aerial vehicles by Iranian forces.
“It would be better to put it this way: In this episode of the CENTCOM podcast, I will explain how we turned our own ultra-advanced, multimillion-dollar MQ-1 and MQ-9 drones into suicide drones!” he advised Cooper.
His tweet came amid repeated reports by the IRGC of US drone losses over Iranian territory and the Strait of Hormuz. On Friday night, the IRGC announced that its advanced air defense systems had intercepted and destroyed the 16th US MQ-1 reconnaissance and combat drone over Qeshm Island, under the country's integrated air defense network.
The IRGC also reported that its electronic warfare systems had brought down two additional US-made MQM-170 reconnaissance drones over Qeshm, raising the number of such drones intercepted there to six.
In a separate announcement, the force said its air defense systems had destroyed a US MQ-9 drone over the eastern Strait of Hormuz, marking the 55th American drone of that type brought down by Iranian air defenses.
The IRGC attributed the repeated interceptions to its intelligence superiority and continuous monitoring of US aerial movements and reconnaissance flight patterns.