Iran Vows Decisive Response to US Retaliation for Drone Downing

“The Iranian Armed Forces defended the airspace of the country and responded to the American drone’s aggression according to their inherent mission,” Keyvan Khosravi told the Russian-language Sputnik.

The US has no justification for acting against Iran over the drone’s downing, he said, adding that the Islamic Republic is fully prepared to respond to any other act of aggression decisively.

Khosravi also said Tehran will lodge a complaint with the United Nations against the US military aggression on the Iranian territory.

The IRGC said on Thursday that a US spy drone that violated the Iranian territorial airspace in the early hours of the day was shot down by the IRGC Aerospace Force’s air defense unit near the Kooh-e-Mobarak region in the southern province of Hormozgan.

The intruding drone was reportedly shot by Iran’s homegrown air defense missile system “Khordad-3rd”.

In comments made a few hours after the incident, IRGC Commander Major General Hossein Salami said the shooting down of the US aircraft had a straightforward message that any foreign intrusion into Iran’s sovereign territories would draw a crushing response.

“The downing of the US drone had an explicit, decisive and clear message that defenders of the Islamic Iran’s borders will show decisive and knockout reactions to aggression against this territory by any alien,” he said.

“Borders are our redline, and any enemy violating these borders will not go back,” the commander underlined.

He also made it clear that Iran is not seeking war with any country but is fully prepared for any confrontation. “Today’s incident was a clear sign of such a precise message.”

The general also reminded the enemies that the only way for them to remain safe is to respect Iran’s territorial integrity, national security and vital interests.