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News ID: 67300
Publish Date : 22 June 2019 - 21:57

Iran to Respond Firmly to Any U.S. Threat

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran said on Saturday it would respond firmly to any U.S. threat after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) shot down an intruding unmanned U.S. drone in the Iranian airspace.
On Thursday, an Iranian missile destroyed a U.S. Global Hawk surveillance drone. Tehran repeated on Saturday that the drone was shot down over its territory.
U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on Friday he aborted a military strike to retaliate because it could have killed 150 people, and signaled he was open to talks with Tehran.
"Regardless of any decision they (U.S. officials) make ... we will not allow any of Iran’s borders to be violated. Iran will firmly confront any aggression or threat by America,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told Tasnim.
Tehran has said it is not seeking a war but has warned of a "crushing” response if attacked.
"Any mistake by Iran’s enemies, in particular America and its regional allies, would be like firing at a powder keg that will burn America, its interests and its allies to the ground,” the senior spokesman of Iran’s Armed Forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, told Tasnim on Saturday.
A senior IRGC commander echoed the remarks in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
"This is our response to a violation of Iranian space and if the violation is repeated then our response will be repeated,” said Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the IRGC’s aerospace division.
"It’s possible that this infringement of the Americans was carried out by a general or some operators.”
Tensions in the region began to worsen significantly when Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six powers and reimposed sanctions on the country. The sanctions had been lifted under the pact in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear program.
Trump said Friday that he doesn’t want war with Iran, but if it comes there will be "obliteration like you’ve never seen before.”
"But I’m not looking to do that,” the U.S. president added in and exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd for "Meet the Press.”
Trump said there were no preconditions for U.S. talks with Tehran.
Earlier, the U.S. president tweeted that he was "cocked and loaded” to strike several targets in Iran but deemed the loss of life would be disproportionate to the downing of an unmanned U.S. drone.
The New York Times quoted a senior administration official as saying that there was some doubt whether the U.S. aircraft did violate Iranian airspace at some point. The official said the doubt was one of the reasons Trump called off the strike, according to the Times, which said that it could under international norms be viewed as an act of war.
General Hajizadeh said Iran had given repeated warnings before launching a missile at the U.S. military surveillance drone. "Unfortunately, they did not answer,” he said.
He also said that Iran could have downed a manned a P-8 American plane, but did not. Iran collected the debris from its territorial waters, he said.  
"We, in the Armed Forces, and the nation of the Islamic Iran do not welcome war, but we are ready to go full length to defend the country," Hajizadeh said.
"The actions of Americans were contrary to international rules and practices, and we also acted on the basis of our legal duty," he added.
On Friday, the IRGC showed retrieved sections of the U.S. military drone. General Hajizadeh said Iran did not need to reverse-engineer the aircraft.
"We have a collection of American drones, and this is another evidence of the American air incursion into Iran's sky, which shows that they (U.S.) do not want to pay attention to international regulations."
A senior Arab diplomat said the sharply increased tensions would further harm the crisis-hit Middle East region.
"Confrontation, whatever we think about Trump or Iran, will be disastrous for everyone,” the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday issued an emergency order prohibiting U.S. operators from flying in an oversea area of Tehran-controlled airspace over the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman
But Iran said on Saturday its airspace was "safe and secure” for all planes to cross, Tasnim reported.
Iran has threatened to breach the deal if the European signatories to the deal fail to salvage it by shielding Tehran from U.S. sanctions.
"The Europeans will not be given more time beyond July 8 to save the deal,” Mousavi said, referring to Iran’s deadline of 60 days that Tehran announced in May.