Video appears to show Iran missile launcher blasting US drone out of the sky

Iran Military Tube/YouTube

Iran's military published a video purportedly showing its air defense forces firing a missile at a US drone on Thursday morning.

• Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired a missile at a US drone early Thursday morning.
• Iran's military has since published a video of a missile launcher shooting at an object in the sky, followed by an explosion.
• Watch it below.
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Iran's military has released footage of what it says was its attack on a US drone on Thursday.

Iran Military Tube, a YouTube channel that describes itself as the force's unofficial media center, published a 52-second-long video that seems to show an Iranian missile launcher shooting at a object in the sky, followed by an explosion.

Watch Iran's video - which came with dramatic backing music - below. It has been republished by outlets including The Washington Post and Sky News, which attribute the clip to Iran's military.

The purported video of the strike is dark because the attack took place early Thursday morning, around 3.30 a.m. local time.

The video concludes with a map showing Iranian and international airspace around the Gulf, and the purported flight path of the drone, a US Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk.

Washington maintains that the drone had been in international airspace in the Strait of Hormuz, and never entered Iranian airspace.

Sergei Chirikov/Pool via REUTERS; GOL/Capital Pictures/MediaPunch/AP

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and US President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump said that the drone attack was a "terrible mistake" by Iran, and reportedly approved plans for military attack before abruptly pulling out.

Read more: Iran claims Trump tipped them off that a military strike was imminent - despite reports suggesting the US ultimately backed down

The US Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order prohibiting US operators from flying in Iran-controlled airspace over the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman in the wake of the drone attack.

Multiple airlines, including Australia's Qantas and the Netherlands's KLM, have also diverted or canceled flights that would fly over parts of Iranian airspace.