New Jersey congressman behind drone 'mothership' claim shares new info about Iran's drone activity
TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew is sharing new information about the movement of Iran’s ‘drone ships’ days after claiming that and ‘Iranian mothership’ was stationed of the coast of the United States.
Van Drew released a statement Friday, as residents and lawmakers in New Jersey and surrounding states grow increasingly frustrated with the lack of answers about the recent reports of drone sightings.
Earlier this week, in an interview on Fox News, Van Drew cited ‘very high sources’ when suggesting that an Iranian ‘mothership’ was behind the recent sightings.
He added that the mothership carries the drones in question and that it was stationed off the east coast of the United States.
In a statement released Friday, Van Drew now says that Iran’s three ‘drone ships’ are actually stationed off the southern coast of Iran.
following a night with a record number of sightings reported across the state from local officials.
"Almost a month has gone by and we still have no answers from our government. The number of drones we are seeing is only increasing," said Congressman Van Drew. "While it has been verified that Iran does have three drone ships, new satellite images show they are currently stationed off the southern coast of Iran."
"This new information only brings us closer to figuring out what is really going on. It is unacceptable to hear the government contradict itself by saying they do not know who is operating these drones, while at the same time telling us there is no reason to be concerned," he added.
Van Drew’s ‘mothership claim was rebuffed by the Pentagon on Wednesday.
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Many New Jersey drone sightings are actually legal, manned aircraft: White House
White House officials now say many of the recent reported 'drone sightings' over New Jersey are actually lawfully operated manned aircraft. They say they still have no evidence the sightings pose a public safety threat.
"At this time we have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or are the work of an adversary," Deputy Defense Secretary Sabrina Singh said Wednesday. "We’re going to continue to monitor what is happening."
When asked specifically about Van Drew’s statement about an Iranian mothership, Singh said there was ‘not any truth’ to that claim.
"There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States and there is no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States." she said.
The White House also reacted to the reports of drone sightings on Thursday, indicating that many of the ‘sightings’ were actually lawfully operated manned aircraft.
"We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus," White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby told reporters at the daily White House press briefing. "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI are investigating these sightings, and they're working closely with state and local law enforcement to provide resources using numerous detection methods to better understand their origin."
"Using very sophisticated electronic detection technologies provided by federal authorities, we have not been able to, and neither have state or local law enforcement authorities, corroborate any of the reported visual sightings," Kirby said. "To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully. The United States Coast Guard is providing support to the state of New Jersey, and has confirmed that there is no evidence of any foreign-based involvement from coastal vessels. And importantly, there are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted airspace."