Iran sharply condemns ‘provocative’ US airspace violation, warns aggressors

Iran has sharply condemned the United States for violating the country’s airspace by a spy drone, warning that the aggressors bear the responsibility for repercussions of such “provocative” moves.

News ID: 445522

Date: 20 June 2019 - 22:43

RNA - Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Thursday reacted to the shooting down of a US surveillance drone flying over Iran’s southern skies, voicing the country’s “strong protest to such aggressive and provocative measures.”

Tehran strongly warns against any “illegal and aggressive” violation of Iranian airspace and territory by any foreign intruder, he added, stressing that all the responsibility for such moves lies on the aggressors.

The statement came after Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had shot down an intruding American spy drone in the country’s southern coastal province of Hormozgan.

It said the US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region — which sits in the central district of Jask County — after the aircraft violated Iranian airspace.

‘A clear message’

Commenting on the operation, Major General Hossein Salami, the IRGC’s chief commander, said, “At dawn today, the IRGC’s Air Force bravely downed a US spy drone, which had intruded our border, violating our national security. This is how the Iranian nation deals with its enemies.”

According to Press TV, the IRGC’s chief said Iranian frontiers are “our red line,” and that the downing of the American drone sent a “transparent and firm message” that the defenders of Iranian borders would react to any act of aggression by any outsider with a “decisive and final” strike.

He reaffirmed that Iran is not seeking war with anyone, but stands fully ready to firmly respond to any aggression.

Speaking in Russia, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani stressed that the country would exercise all its efforts to defend its aerial, maritime and land borders.

"Our FIR (flight information region) is actually our red line. No matter whose plane trespasses into our FIR, we have always given and will give a harsh response to intruders," he said.

847/940