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.
In
response, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for
Cultural Affairs and Defense Publicity Brigadier General Massoud
Jazayeri told FNA that the Iranian Armed Forces repel any aggression
against the country
“The
defenders of the Islamic Republic of Iran give decisive response to any
aerial, ground or sea aggression,” Jazayeri told FNA, responding to a
question about Pentagon’s Thursday report.
“If any kind of alien flying object wants to enter our country’s airspace, our armed forces will confront it,” Jazayeri added.
The Pentagon report was given a wide coverage in the US media and sent gold prices high up in the world markets.
Pentagon
spokesman George Little said the aircraft fired multiple rounds at the
Predator drone and followed it for at least several miles as it moved
farther away from Iranian airspace.
“We believe that they fired at least twice and made at least two passes,” he said.
Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta was quickly notified of the incident, as were
members of Congress and the White House, Little added.
Political analysts believe that the Iranian fighters intended to just shoo away the American predator.
The
United States also sent Iran a warning through diplomatic channels,
saying it would defend its military assets and would keep sending
aircraft on similar missions in the Persian Gulf.
“There
is absolutely no precedence for this,” Little said. “This is the first
time that a (drone) has been fired upon to our knowledge by Iranian
aircraft.”
American
officials said that the Iranian SU-25s were flown by the Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps as the IRGC is responsible for protecting
security over the Persian Gulf.
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