Senior MP: US Should Account for Violation of Iran’s Airspace

A senior Iranian legislator appreciated the Iranian Armed Forces for confrontation with a US aircraft in the airspace over the Persian Gulf, and said Washington should account for the violation of Iran’s airspace.

Rapporteur of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini dismissed US claims that the drone did not cross Iran’s aerial border, and said that the US should be accountable for the violation of Iran’s airspace.

He said the Islamic Republic will give a firm response to any act of unauthorized entry into the country’s territory.

“The American drone illegally entered Iran’s airspace and the Islamic Republic gave a firm response to this US aggressive act,” Naqavi Hosseini said on Saturday.

“We will confront any unauthorized entry into Iran’s geographical borders including aerial, maritime and land borders,” the Iranian lawmaker added.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi on Friday confirmed reports about Iran’s confrontation with an enemy aircraft in the airspace over the Persian Gulf, saying that the aircraft was shooed away by Iranian fighter jets.

“Last week 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 on Friday.

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.

On Thursday the Pentagon reported 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.