The IRGC says it intercepted and hit a US MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz

The public relations office of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on Monday 3 August 2026 (12 Mordad 1405) that a US MQ-9 drone was intercepted and hit by the IRGC Aerospace Force over the skies of the Strait of Hormuz.

The statement gave no further detail on the exact time of the incident or where the aircraft came down. The announcement landed on a day when global energy markets were pricing in de escalation: crude oil prices fell sharply in the same session after news that talks between the United States and Iran would resume.

The Strait of Hormuz is the passage for a large share of the world's seaborne oil cargoes, and military incidents there feed directly into the risk premium in the oil price. That is the same variable that reaches Iran's currency and gold markets through inflation expectations and the global gold price.