Hours after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shot down an American drone, its commander warned Thursday that the Islamic Republic is “totally ready and prepared for war.” Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami said the drone shoot-down served as a warning to the US that the Iranian military is capable of countering any “foreign aggression,” according to CNN, which cited the Iranian Tasnim news agency. “The downing of the American drone is an open, clear and categorical message, which is: the defenders of the borders of Iran will decisively deal with any foreign aggression” Salami said. “This is the way the Iranian nation deals with its enemies.” Salami added that Iran does “not want war with any country, but we are completely and totally ready and prepared for war.” Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guard said the US drone had masked its identification equipment after it was launched, CNN reported, quoting Iran’s Fars news agency.The statement said the RQ-4 Global Hawk drone flew from the Strait of Hormuz toward Chabahar. The Revolutionary Guard said the drone was “breaking all aerospace rules and hiding its identification, which is against all aviation rules.” The IRGC statement added: “While returning to the western Hormuz Strait’s region the drone violated Iran’s airspace and engaged in information-gathering and spying. At 4:05 a.m. local time while the violating airplane was over Iranian territory it was shot down by IRGC.” Also Thursday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry expressed Tehran’s “strong objection” for what it said was a “violation of the country’s airspace” and issued a stern warning. Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that Iran cannot condone the “illegal trespassing and invading of the country’s skies by any kind of foreign flying object.” He added: “We strongly condemn this kind of aggressive and provocative action. We warn against any violation of Iran’s airspace by foreign flying objects and declare that violators are responsible for the consequences of their actions.” Despite Iran’s claim that the drone was flying over its airspace, the US says it was shot down in international airspace in the Strait of Hormuz. “We did not have any aircraft in Iranian airspace today,” said Capt. William Urban, spokesman for US Central Command. A US official earlier told CNN the destroyed drone was a MQ-4C Triton, not a Global Hawk. Both are unmanned surveillance aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman. The downing was the latest in an escalating series of incidents in the region, including attacks on oil tankers as Tehran and Washington have slid toward confrontation. Iran has denied involvement in any of the attacks against the ships.
Iran warns it is ‘prepared for war’ after shooting down US drone
Hours after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shot down an American drone, its commander warned Thursday that the Islamic Republic is “totally ready and prepared for war.” Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami said the drone shoot-down served as a warning to the US that the Iranian military is capable of countering any “foreign aggression,” according to CNN, which cited the Iranian Tasnim news agency. “The downing of the American drone is an open, clear and categorical message, which is: the defenders of the borders of Iran will decisively deal with any foreign aggression” Salami said. “This is the way the Iranian nation deals with its enemies.” Salami added that Iran does “not want war with any country, but we are completely and totally ready and prepared for war.” Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guard said the US drone had masked its identification equipment after it was launched, CNN reported, quoting Iran’s Fars news agency.The statement said the RQ-4 Global Hawk drone flew from the Strait of Hormuz toward Chabahar. The Revolutionary Guard said the drone was “breaking all aerospace rules and hiding its identification, which is against all aviation rules.” The IRGC statement added: “While returning to the western Hormuz Strait’s region the drone violated Iran’s airspace and engaged in information-gathering and spying. At 4:05 a.m. local time while the violating airplane was over Iranian territory it was shot down by IRGC.” Also Thursday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry expressed Tehran’s “strong objection” for what it said was a “violation of the country’s airspace” and issued a stern warning. Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that Iran cannot condone the “illegal trespassing and invading of the country’s skies by any kind of foreign flying object.” He added: “We strongly condemn this kind of aggressive and provocative action. We warn against any violation of Iran’s airspace by foreign flying objects and declare that violators are responsible for the consequences of their actions.” Despite Iran’s claim that the drone was flying over its airspace, the US says it was shot down in international airspace in the Strait of Hormuz. “We did not have any aircraft in Iranian airspace today,” said Capt. William Urban, spokesman for US Central Command. A US official earlier told CNN the destroyed drone was a MQ-4C Triton, not a Global Hawk. Both are unmanned surveillance aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman. The downing was the latest in an escalating series of incidents in the region, including attacks on oil tankers as Tehran and Washington have slid toward confrontation. Iran has denied involvement in any of the attacks against the ships.
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