“The U.S. wages Economic Terrorism on Iran, has conducted covert action against us & now encroaches on our territory,” wrote Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a tweet on Thursday.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

In a statement issued early on Thursday, IRGC said a U.S.-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region, which sits in the central district of Jask County, after the aircraft violated Iranian airspace.

Zarif went on to stress that “We don’t seek war, but will zealously defend our skies, land & waters.”

“We’ll take this new aggression to UN & show that the U.S. is lying about international waters,” Zarif added.

Meanwhile yesterday Iran released the first photos of the debris of a U.S. spy drone which was shot down in southern Iran after incursion into the Iranian airspace.

Iran had earlier underlined that it has retrieved the wreckage from its territorial water, refuting a claim by the U.S. president that the drone was flying over international waters.

Meanwhile the commander of Iran’s Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warned that the force’s downing of a US spy drone over the southern parts of the country is a “clear message” that Tehran, while not seeking war, is completely ready to fight one.

Speaking at an event in Iran’s western Kordestan province, Major General Hossein Salami said the Islamic Republic will respond firmly to any intrusion.

“You heard today that in the early morning the IRGC’s Aerospace Force bravely downed an intruding American drone,” he said. “This is the manner in which the Iranian nation confronts its enemy.”

“The downing of the American drone conveyed a clear message and it was the fact that the defenders of Iran’s borders will give a crushing and finishing response to intrusions by any foreign entity,” he asserted.

The general noted that Iran considered its borders as its “red line” and said: “Any enemy that breaches these borders won’t go back [alive].”

“We declare that we don’t want to go into war with any country but we are fully prepared for war and today’s incident was a clear indication of this,” General Salami continued.