Cruz bill would use Iran sanctions cash to pay for downed US drone

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President Trump ratchets up economic pressure on Iran with new sanctions

U.S. slaps new sanctions on the Islamic republic following the downing of an American military drone; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, filed legislation Monday that would take hundreds of millions of dollars from frozen Iranian bank accounts and use them to offset the cost of an American military drone that was shot down by Tehran last week.

The proposal, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, would require the Trump administration to asses the cost of the drone, which was believed to be between $120 million and $220 million.

The legislation was made public hours after President Trump signed an executive order restricting access by Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military figures to financial resources and blocking their access to any financial assets under U.S. jurisdiction. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the new sanctions mean the U.S. has "literally locked up tens and tens of billions of dollars."

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The U.S. has said the Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk was shot down in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz last week. Iran has claimed the aircraft was violating Iranian airspace and the country's naval commander has warned that Iranian forces would not hesitate to act again and shoot down more drones that violate Iranian airspace.

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Fox News also learned Monday that the U.S. military carried out a cyberattack against Iran last Thursday even as Trump opted against carrying out plans for airstrikes. Sources told Fox News that U.S. Cyber Command launched the cyberattack targeting the Iranian intelligence and radar installations used to down the drone.

Fox News also has learned Iran shut off some of its military radar sites around the time the U.S. was poised to launch retaliatory strikes. It was not clear if those radar sites were turned off by the cyberattack or if Iran shut them off deliberately in anticipation of this.

Fox News' Guerin Hays, Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.