Khatami 'to quit presidential race'

Tensions between the United States and Iran increased further today after it emerged that American forces had shot down an Iranian drone flying over Iraqi airspace.

US forces said that the drone was hovering around 60 miles north of Baghdad when it was destroyed last month, adding that the deviation was "not an accident" on the part of Iranian forces.

“The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was in Iraqi airspace for nearly one hour and 10 minutes and well inside Iraqi territory before it was engaged," a military spokesman said.

“The pilots were directed to shoot the UAV down after determining there would be no possibility of collateral damage. The UAV was believed to be an Iranian ’Ababil 3’ model UAV."

The US did not say what it believed the drone to have been doing over Iraq, but America has long accused the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of providing training and funding to Shia insurgents who commit attacks against US troops and Iraqi forces.

“This was not an accident on the part of the Iranians,” the spokesman added.

The report came as it emerged that the reformist candidate Mohammed Khatami, the former Iranian President, looked likely to withdraw from the race to be the next Iranian leader.

Mr Khatami was set to be a strong candidate against Mr Ahmadinejad's hardline government, but is believed to have pulled out of the race to prevent the opposition vote from being split between him and Mir Hossein Mousavi, Iran's influential former Prime Minister, who has also entered the race.

Washington has been tentatively seeking to unfreeze relations with Tehran since President Obama's election last November.

As part of his promise to change foreign policy in the aftermath of President Bush, the new US leader has pledged to offer diplomatic engagement with US foes, including Iran, to test if there might be scope for negotiated solutions to conflicts.

Last week, however, Mr Obama said he had extended one of the many levels of sanctions against Iran, imposed in 1995 over charges that Tehran dealt in terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction.

In addition, Washington remains concerned about the growing ties between the two Shia-majority neighbours, repeatedly accusing Iranian-linked groups of attacking US troops in Iraq.

Under Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led regime, Baghdad and Tehran fought a devastating 1980-1988 war in which around one million people died.

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