Intruding Aircraft Forced to Apologize, Leave Iran’s Borders: Commander
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s air defense commander said the foreign planes that approach the country’s airspace have no choice but to make an apology and leave the border zones after being given the timely warnings by the air defense forces.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Wednesday, Iran’s Air Defense Commander Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said the intruding aircraft are timely detected by the country’s advanced air defense systems.
Commenting on the reports about recent warnings given to a number of foreign aircraft that tried to approach the country’s airspace, Esmaili said the pilots claimed they had approached Iran’s borders by mistake due to weather conditions, and that they did not intend to violate Iran’s airspace.
On Monday, a military commander said the air defense forces had warned off a number of foreign surveillance aircraft that tried to approach the country’s airspace, noting that some were identified as U-2 spy planes.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Brigadier General Esmaili touched on a large-scale military drill, due to be held south of Iran from December 25 to 31.
He said 3,000 Air Defense personnel will take part in the forthcoming wargame directly, while 10,000 other staffers will provide logistic services.
The Army’s four forces, namely the Ground Force, Air Force, Navy, and Air Defense, will attend the drills, codenamed “Muhammad Rasulullah” (Muhammad, the messenger of God).
The exercise is planned to be carried out in a large area of 2.2 million square kilometers, stretching from the northern Indian Ocean to the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and in the southern Iranian provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan and Hormozgan.