Fars News – June 21, 2019

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei views the Third of Khordad Air Defence system. Click to enlarge

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) released a video showing how the advanced US-made unmanned plane was shot down at dawn on Thursday after entering the country’s airspace and violating international aviation regulations.

Iran shot down the US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone in the country’s Southern coastal province of Hormozgan on Thursday. The American spying drone was brought down near the Kouh-e Mobarak region in the Central district of Jask in Hormozgan province after the aircraft violated Iran’s airspace.

The IRGC Aerospace Force announced in a statement that it used the Iran-made short-range and mid-altitude ‘Third of Khordad’ missile defense shield to bring down the US spy drone over the country’s Southern coasts.

Also, in a second video released later, Iran showed the flight plan of the US drone and the exact location where it was intercepted.

Commander of the IRGC Major General Hossein Salami stressed that the move should alert Washington officials to stay away.

The incident sent “a clear message” to the US and other enemies that Iran will show a firm and crushing response to any aggression, Salami stated.

“Borders are our red lines and any enemy which violates them will not go back home and will be annihilated. The only way for enemies is to respect Iran’s territorial integrity and national interests,” the major general noted.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also stated on Thursday that Tehran “will take this US new aggression to [the] UN and show that the US is lying about international waters”.

The Iranian top diplomat stressed that Tehran does not want war, “but will zealously defend our skies, land and waters”.

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