Mystery New Jersey drones not from Iranian 'mothership' - Pentagon

A spate of mysterious drone sightings in the US are not the work of an Iranian "mothership" lurking off the east coast, the Pentagon says.

Dozens of drones have been spotted across New Jersey in recent weeks, including near sensitive military locations in the state and close to President-elect Donald Trump's golf course in the town of Bedminster.

A US congressman Jeff Van Drew claimed he had heard from "high sources" that the flying objects were tied to Iran.

Speaking to Fox News, the New Jersey Republican said the drones were coming from an Iranian "mothership" in the Atlantic.

"That mothership... is off the East Coast of the United States of America. They've launched drones into everything that we can see or hear," Van Drew said on Wednesday.

"These are from high sources. I don't say this lightly."

He added that the drones should be "shot down".

But deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh flatly rejected the claims.

She told a briefing on Wednesday: "There is no 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."

The Pentagon's initial assessment, Ms Singh added, is that "these are not drones coming from a foreign entity or adversary".

Van Drew responded to the Pentagon during an interview on Fox the following day, saying that "we aren't being told the truth".

He also accused the Pentagon of "dealing with the American public like we're stupid."

Another New Jersey lawmaker, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, called for the drones to be shot down "if necessary", according to the Associates Press news agency.

"The lack of information is absolutely unacceptable," he added.

At the White House on Thursday, national security spokesman John Kirby said there is "no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus."

Many of the sightings, Kirby said, are actually manned aircraft that are being reported lawfully.

No drone sightings have so far been reported in restricted airspace.

"While there is no known malicious activity occurring, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight a gap," he said. "So we urge Congress to pass important legislation that will extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities so that we are better prepared to identify and mitigate any potential threats to airports or other critical infrastructure."

In a separate incident in New York City on Thursday, several drones were reported flying over a neighbourhood in the Bronx, one of the city's five boroughs, a police official told CBS, the BBC's US partner.

Officers who responded to the incident saw the drones flying overhead, but they disappeared soon afterwards.

The Pentagon and White House statements come weeks after publicly unexplained drone incursions were reported over US airbases in the UK.

Dozens of sightings have been reported over New Jersey since 18 November, with 49 reported sightings on Sunday alone, Governor Phil Murphy said Monday.

Some of the flights have taken place near Picatinny Arsenal - a sensitive military research facility - as well as near President-elect Donald Trump's golf course in the town of Bedminster.

Murphy stressed that the drones don't appear to pose a public safety concern.

The FBI has not explained the sightings so far.

"I don't have an answer of who's responsible," Robert Wheeler Jr, the assistant director of the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group told lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Tuesday. "But we're actively investigating."

The US Federal Aviation Administration has established temporary flight restrictions prohibiting drone flights over Bedminster and Picatinny, and said it is investigating the reports.

In a statement, the FAA also warned that drone operators who conduct unsafe or dangerous operations could face fines of up to $75,000 (£59,000) and have their drone pilot certificates revoked.

New Jersey assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia has dismissed the Pentagon's assertions.

"To state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading," she said.

The Republican - who was briefed by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday - said the drones appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio.

Fantasia said the drones are up to 6ft (1.8m) in diameter, travel with lights turned off and "operate in a co-ordinated manner."

While the mysterious objects are not believed to be hobbyist drones, Fantasia said it remains unclear what they are.

In late November, the United States Air Force confirmed that unidentified drones were spotted over three US airbases in the UK: RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk.

Defence sources told the BBC that suspicion had fallen on a "state actor" being responsible for the incursions.

An investigation is ongoing.