LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "No nation welcomes other countries' spy drones in its territory, and no one sends back the spying equipment and its information back to the country of origin," Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the Armed Forces says.

"It makes no difference where this drone originated and which group or country sent it to invade our air space," Salami added. "This was an act of invasion and belligerence."

Salami called the downing of the plane as "very valuable for us" and "a victory for us and a defeat for our enemies." He also claimed Iran had earlier downed other drones -- but went unannounced as they were not as important.

Iranian TV aired images last week of what it says is the drone, an apparently intact RQ-170 drone propped on a pedestal and triumphantly displayed with gaudy banners and anti-American slogans.

U.S. officials have not confirmed that the drone in a video telecast in Iran is a U.S. aircraft, but Pentagon spokesman George Little has said that an American drone is missing -- and had not been recovered as of Thursday of last week.

Two U.S. officials have confirmed to CNN that the missing drone was part of a CIA reconnaissance mission that involved both the intelligence community and military personnel stationed in Afghanistan.

Iran's official Iran Republic News Agency said the country's armed forces had downed the drone near Kashmar, some 140 miles from the border with Afghanistan on December 4.

There was disagreement among Pentagon officials about whether the drone in the video was real. Military and intelligence officials were analyzing the Iran television footage.

One U.S. official says the U.S. can't be certain it's the real stealth drone - he also added there's no reason to think it's a fake.

A senior U.S. military official says the chief question is how the drone could have remained virtually intact given the high altitude it is believed to have crashed from.

The condition of the drone in the video suggests it was not shot down but suffered a system failure, aviation analyst Bill Sweetman said. There are no burn marks from a fire, no holes and no outward damage.

U.S. officials have said that US intelligence assessments indicate that Iran neither shot the drone down, nor used electronic or cyber-technology to force it from the sky. They contend the drone malfunctioned. The officials had spoken anonymously in order to discuss the classified program.

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