Pentagon refutes New Jersey lawmaker's claim of Iranian mothership on drones

The Pentagon on Wednesday refuted Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s (R-N.J.) claim about Iran launching drones recently spotted in New Jersey via a mothership.

In a Wednesday interview on Fox News’s “The Faulkner Focus” with anchor Harris Faulkner, Van Drew said, “from very high sources, very qualified sources, very responsible sources, I’m gonna tell you the real deal: Iran launched a mothership, probably about a month ago that contains these drones”

“That mothership is off — I’m gonna tell you the deal — it’s off the East Coast of the United States of America,” he added. “They’ve launched drones.”

At a briefing Wednesday, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh responded to the claim.

“There is not any truth to that. There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States,” Singh said.

Multiple New Jersey officials have expressed concern about the recent drone sightings, including Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and Sen. Cory Booker (D).

On Monday, Murphy said he is taking unidentified drone flights in his state “deadly seriously.”

“These are apparently … as I understand it, very sophisticated,” Murphy told a group of reporters.

“The minute you get eyes on them, they go dark. And, you know, we’re obviously most concerned about sensitive targets and sensitive, critical infrastructure. We’ve got military assets, we’ve got utility assets, we’ve got the president-elect’s, one of his homes, here. This is something we’re taking deadly seriously,” he added.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), in a letter posted to X Tuesday and addressed to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, pushed for them “to share any relevant information about these drone sightings with the public.”

In a later interview with The Hill's sister network, NewsNation, Van Drew's comments about Iran being behind the drones were brought up, to which he responded that the Middle Eastern country could "maybe" be the cause.

The Hill has reached out to Van Drew’s office for comment.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

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