The Iranian government said Friday that the U.S. drone its fighter jets intercepted over the Persian Gulf earlier this month had violated its airspace, rejecting U.S. assertions that the unmanned Predator MQ-1 was flying in international skies.
“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,” Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said in a statement reported by the Iranian news agency FARS.
The Pentagon last week alleged Iran had fired on the Predator while it was on a routine mission Nov. 1 in international airspace 16 nautical miles off the Iranian coastline, four miles beyond the 12-mile limit that would establish Iranian territory.
Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters the unmanned aerial vehicle was fired on by Iranian Su-25s before veering away and returning to an unspecified base in the region. He said the drone was not hit by the gunfire.
Little said the United States had lodged a protest over the incident. Vahidi said Iran also planned to raise the case internationally, according to FARS.