Third US MQ-1 Drone Shot Down Over Strait of Hormuz

A third downing of the same drone type in the same waterway shifts this from an isolated incident toward a pattern, and the attribution to IRGC air defenses makes it a state-level action rather than an ambiguous proxy event. The Strait of Hormuz is the world's most consequential oil chokepoint, so repeated military contact there carries weight for shipping and energy risk sentiment even when the hardware itself is small. Whether this cadence of intercepts continues, and whether it stays confined to unmanned aircraft, is the open question.