Iran has accused the U.S. of taking out one of its own drones by mistake after Donald Trump said the Navy had destroyed an unmanned craft over the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi flatly denied reports that any of its drones had been destroyed, either 'in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else.'

'I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) by mistake!' he tweeted on Friday.

That came after the president announced an Iranian drone making 'provocative and hostile' maneuvres had been destroyed on Thursday, in what the Defense Department later said was an electronic warfare attack.

Iran's deputy defence minister Seyed Araghchi (right) denied that the US had brought down one of its drones Friday, after President Trump (left) said one was destroyed Thursday

Araghchi then goaded the US, suggesting that it may have shot down one of its own UAS - which stands for unmanned aerial systems - by mistake

Trump had said that the USS Boxer, a helicopter assault ship (pictured on July 17), had taken out the 'provocative and hostile' drone while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday

A drone-killer buggy parked on the deck of the Boxer (pictured right) is believed to have knocked the craft out of the skies by cutting the signal to its control tower

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, and then to the open ocean; about one-fifth of the oil on the world's markets is shipped through it

Trump said the drone was downed as the USS Boxer passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic bottleneck through which a fifth of the world's oil passes each day, and which sits partially in Iranian waters.

The president called the incident 'the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters.'

How a high-tech buggy destroyed the drone A 'drone-killer' buggy chained to the deck of the USS Boxer is believed to be behind the attack which brought down an Iranian drone. The buggy uses highly sensitive radar to detect small incoming targets and then deploys signal blocking technology to sever the link between the drone and its control tower, causing it to fall from the sky. If the signal-jammer fails, then the buggy's radar technology can be used to direct conventional missiles towards the same target to finish it off. Pictures of the Boxer taken on July 17 as it made its way towards the Strait of Hormuz show the system - officially known as the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System - on the flight deck. Advertisement

Iranian armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi also denied the claims Friday, saying: 'Despite Trump's baseless and delusional claims, all of [Iran's] drones... have safely returned to their bases.

'There have been no reports of a confrontation with the American USS Boxer.'

Iran's military recently shot down a U.S. drone that it said was flying in Iranian airspace, firing a strike with a surface-to-air missile.

President Trump called off a planned airstrike at the last moment, saying later that retaliating would have killed approximately 150 people on the ground.

Trump made his announcement Thursday at the beginning of a White House ceremony to mark the return of an American flag that flew from the stern of an American ship in the D-Day invasion.

An hour earlier he had told reporters at the end of a pohto-op with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that 'a big event just happened in Iran. A big event.'

The drone was downed in international waters, according to a Pentagon official.

The increased use of drones by Iran and its allies for surveillance and attacks across the Middle East is raising alarms in Washington, according to a Reuters report this week.

The Pentagon said the Boxer (pictured) was in international waters passing through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf when it launched its attack

Trump said the Boxer took action after what he called 'provocative and hostile' maneuvres by the Iranian drone

Iran is known to fly several drone missions over the Strait of Hormuz each day as part of its efforts to monitor traffic through the bottleneck (USS Boxer, pictured July 17)

U.S. Marines inspect an AV-8B Harrier aircraft on the flight deck of USS Boxer

A CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter takes off from the deck of the USS Boxer on July 17

The U.S. believes Iran-linked militias in Iraq have recently increased their surveillance of American troops and bases in the country by using off-the-shelf, commercially available drones.

The disclosure comes at a time of heightened tensions with Iran and underscores the many ways in which Tehran and the forces it backs are increasingly relying on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in places like Yemen, Syria, the Strait of Hormuz and Iraq.

Beyond surveillance, Iranian drones can drop munitions and even carry out 'a kamikaze flight where they load it up with explosives and fly it into something,' according to a U.S. official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Iran now flies two or three drones over Gulf waters every day, the U.S. official estimated, making it a core part of Tehran's effort to monitor the Strait of Hormuz.

Wasp-class ships, such as the Boxer, are designed to be capable of landing an entire Marine Expeditionary Unit via helicopter and then provide air support with Harrier jets

The Boxer was moved into the Persian Gulf amid heightened tensions with Iran, that saw Tehran shoot down an American drone last month

A member of the Wasp's crew inspects a radar screen on the bridge

Trump announced the military action at the beginning of a ceremony to mark the return of a Dutch-owned 48-star American flag that flew on a Navy ship on D-Day

The United States and Saudi Arabia have accused Iran of carrying out attacks against six oil tankers near the Strait in the past two months, a claim Tehran has denied.

'We have seen an uptick in drone activity in Iraq near our bases and facilities,' the official said. 'Certainly the drones that we have seen are more of the commercial off-the-shelf variant. So they're obviously a deniable type UAV-activity in Iraq.'

TRUMP ANNOUNCES U.S. ATTACK ON IRANIAN DRONE 'I want to apprise everyone of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz today, involving USS Boxer, a navy amphibious assault ship. 'The Boxer took defensive action against an Iranian drone, which had closed into a very, very near distance, approximately 1,000 yards, ignoring multiple calls to stand down, and was threatening the safety of the ship and the ship's crew. The drone was immediately destroyed. 'This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters. The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, our facilities and interests, and calls upon all nations to condemn Iran's attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce. 'I also call on other nations to protect their ships as they go through the strait and to work with us in the future. 'Thank you very much. I thought you should know that.' Advertisement

In recent weeks, mortars and rockets have been fired at bases in Iraq where U.S. forces are located but no American troops have been injured.

Iraqi militia groups linked to Iran began using drones in 2014 and 2015 in battles to retake territory from ISIS.

These groups received training on the use of drones from members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah, according to Iraqi security officials with knowledge of militia activities.

'Key militia groups have the ability to launch aerial attacks using drones. Will they target American interests? That hasn't happened yet,' said one Iraqi security official.

'They used Katyusha and mortars in very restricted attacks against American interests in Iraq to send a message rather than trying to inflict damage. Using explosive-laden drones is very possible once we have a worsening situation between Tehran and Washington.'

In March, Iran boasted about a complex military exercise involving 50 drones. In a slickly edited video aired on state TV, waves of drones streak across a clear blue sky, bombing buildings on an island in the Gulf.

The show of force was intended to highlight Iran's locally developed UAV program, which it has been building up for several years.

U.S. forces shot down Iranian-made drones in 2017 in Syria, after deeming them a threat to both U.S.-backed forces and their advisers.