President Rouhani: US underestimates Iran’s military might

President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that the US had underestimated Iran’s military might and did not expect the Iranian forces to successfully down its most sophisticated drone.

President Rouhani made the remarks in a meeting with a number of officials at Iran’s Health Ministry on Tuesday.

Downing a US spy drone by Iranian forces indicates that the Americans did not expect the country would be able to shoot their drone down as it was very difficult to detect the drone militarily, he said. 

The drone could not simply recognized due to its aerodynamics structure and color, President said. 

The president went on to say that, “It means this drone has crossed the international waters and entered our territorial waters, we warned them immediately, but they did not pay any attention. It’s a great thing to down this drone with our home-made technology. If we had shot down the UAV with the S-300, it would not have been an outstanding work, but we have done a great job through downing a high tech drone with our home made system.”

He added that those who are familiar with military issues accurately understand the importance of the this great measure.

“We appreciate all those who created this domestic industry system in the Ministry of Defense and all those who used it well in the Revolutionary Guards, as they did a great work,” Rouhani said. 

“I do not want to say that we wanted to humiliate America, because we do not seek to humiliate anyone. But this made a great spirit for our nation. We have the necessary capabilities. We say that we have a strategic patience; our patience is a strategic one; patience differs from fear. We are not afraid of the United States. An example was that the downed drone shows when the aggressors enter into our space, they will be destroyed in a second, and this truly indicates our power.”

“Of course, our patience has red line. Our borders are our red line, and here, when the plane enters our borders, it has crossed our red line, and we have a duty to defend and we must defend.”