A US reconnaissance drone was spotted near Iran’s Kharg Island, an informed source told TASS.

A US Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton reconnaissance drone, which took off from the Italian Sigonella military base in Sicily, was detected over the neutral waters of the Persian Gulf, near the Iranian Kharg Island, the source said.

He noted that the drone passed over the island at an altitude of more than 14 km, after which it flew north, then turned around and began to move in the reverse direction.

The device, whose flights have been recorded many times before over the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, including in the area of the Iranian city of Bushehr, has been in the sky for several hours, the source added.

He recalled that this type of unmanned aerial vehicles are capable of providing real-time intelligence data and conducting surveillance over vast areas of sea and land, as well as expanding the capabilities of Boeing P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine warfare aircraft.