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A top Iranian official has claimed that the United States is framing Iran for attacks on civilian targets in the Middle East by using reverse-engineered drones.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Roughly a week ago, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized to neighboring Gulf countries after missile and drone strikes from Iran hit areas in several countries across the region that Tehran claims host US military bases. Iranian leaders argued the attacks were not meant to target the Gulf nations themselves but were instead aimed at US military installations and interests that Tehran says were being used to launch operations against Iran. These strikes have pissed off Iran’s neighbors, resulting in countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia warning they have the right to respond militarily to Iranian attacks on their soil.

What’s going on now: In a series of interviews, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused the United States of orchestrating attacks on civilian sites across the region and then blaming Iran in what he claims is a deliberate deception campaign. Araghchi said the US is trying to damage Tehran’s relationships with its Arab neighbors by creating the appearance that Iran is targeting them. According to him, the attacks are meant to “incite instability” and push regional countries to turn against Iran by promoting a narrative of Iranian aggression that he says is false.

Central to Araghchi’s accusations is a drone system known as LUCAS, short for the “Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System.” He claims the platform was developed by the United States after reverse-engineering captured Iranian Shahed-136 drones and was intentionally made to look nearly identical to them. Araghchi alleged the drones are being used to strike targets in Arab countries so the attacks appear to come from Iran.

Araghchi insists Iran’s own operations are limited to American assets and are defensive responses to attacks launched from regional bases hosting US forces. “We are only targeting American assets, American installations and American military bases,” he said in one interview. “Everything belongs to Americans.” He also argued that Gulf states hosting US forces were effectively enabling attacks on Iran, asking, “These are the countries that have given their soil to American forces to attack us… So what can we do? We just sit and watch that American forces are attacking us from their soil?”

To address the competing claims, Iran says it is willing to cooperate with regional governments to investigate the attacks. Araghchi proposed creating a joint fact-finding committee involving neighboring countries to determine what weapons were used, who launched them, and whether the incidents were falsely attributed to Iran.

The United States has rejected the allegations outright. US Central Command (CENTCOM) dismissed the claims in a public statement, writing that Iran’s accusation that Washington was using drones to strike Gulf countries and blame Tehran was a “LIE.” CENTCOM added that US drones are used only to strike Iranian military targets and accused Iran of launching “thousands of drones AND missiles at its neighbors,” including attacks that hit civilian infrastructure.