MP: Iran to Give Tougher Response to Border Trespassing by US

A senior Iranian legislator condemned the US for its repeated violations of Iran’s airspace and marine borders, and warned that the Iranian Armed Forces will give a harsher response to such aggressive moves in future.

“Iran (in a letter to the UN) protested at the violation of its airspace and marine borders by the US and announced that in case of the move happens again, the country will not embark on warning them, and will rather encounter the aggressors,” Chairman of the parliament’s Defense Commission Mohammad Esmayeel Kosari told FNA on Tuesday.

“In addition to warnings, the Islamic Republic of Iran has forced one or two US and NATO planes to land so that it can show to the world that they are violating our airspace and maritime borders,” he said, and added that Iran believes that issuing warnings to such enemy vessels and aircraft is enough and it is now time to take action.

His remarks came after the Pentagon reported earlier this month that Iranian fighter jets had opened fire on a US drone over the Persian Gulf on November 1, but did not hit the aircraft.

According to the timeline provided by the Pentagon, two Iranian SU-25 “Frogfoot” aircraft intercepted the American drone at about 4:50 a.m. EST (0850 GMT) as it conducted a classified mission over Persian Gulf waters about 16 nautical miles off the Iranian coast.

In response, Iranian defense officials confirmed the military confrontation, but stressed that the US drone had violated the Iranian airspace.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi confirmed the report, saying that the aircraft was shooed away by Iranian fighter jets.

“An unidentified aircraft entered the airspace over Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, which was forced to flee due to the prompt, smart and decisive action of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed forces,” Vahidi said in a statement released by the Iranian Defense Ministry.

He stressed that the incident and similar events in the past all indicate that “the Islamic Republic of Iran is vigilantly and precisely monitoring all moves and provides decisive, necessary and prompt response with efficient power” to any hostile move.

The Iranian defense minister further stated that Iran is pursuing the case at relevant international bodies using all available capacities.