Downing of US Drone Shows Iran Resolved to Counter Threats: Defense Minister

 Addressing a conference of Defense Ministry officials in Tehran, General Hatami praised the Air Defense forces for shooting down the US drone that had violated the country’s airspace, saying the reaction brought glory to the Iranian nation.

It demonstrated that the Islamic Republic of Iran will vigorously safeguard its national interests without any consideration, he added.

“Fully aware of the defense power of the Islamic Republic, the enemies of Iran are incapable of taking any military action”, he said.

The minster also stressed that the frustration and impotence of enemies result from Iran’s great defense capabilities that have been founded upon resistance.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force shot down a US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that intruded into the airspace of Iran on June 20.

The IRGC said the ‘Global Hawk’ spy drone had taken off from a US military base in south of the Persian Gulf, switched off all of its communication systems, and flew towards the port city of Chabahar via the Strait of Hormuz in maximum stealth.

When flying back to the western part of the region, the unmanned plane violated the Iranian airspace near the Strait of Hormuz and began to spy on Iran and collect information, the statement added.

IRGC Chief Major General Hossein Salami said later that the shooting down of the US drone 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 added.

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