Click to see full-size image
On June 23rd, Iran revealed details of another drone encroaching on its territory, this time on May 26th and it wasn’t downed.
The unmanned aerial vehicle was a MQ-9 Reaper. It is an armed combat drone, that can also carry out reconnaissance.
More evidence—including encroachment of a MQ9 spy drone on 5/26, speedboat purchases & phone calls planning to attribute ship attacks to Iran—indicate #B_Team was moments away from trapping @realDonaldTrump into a war. Prudence prevented it, but #EconomicTerrorism brings tension. pic.twitter.com/LmWJTDvt2O
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 23, 2019
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said that the map showed the MQ-9 Reaper encroach on Iranian territory in late May. It was sent numerous warnings, but still didn’t comply.
This was to provide background on the US apparent repeated entry into Iranian airspace, despite warnings.
Javad Zarif earlier tweeted maps and claims that the US RQ-4 Global Hawk, that Iran downed on June 20th was above Iranian territorial waters.
The US wages #EconomicTerrorism on Iran, has conducted covert action against us & now encroaches on our territory.
We don’t seek war, but will zealously defend our skies, land & waters.
We’ll take this new aggression to #UN & show that the US is lying about international waters
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 20, 2019
LEGEND: blue=drone; yellow line=Iranian FIR; red line=Iranian territorial waters; ; green line=baseline internal waters; yellow dots=Iran radio warnings sent; red dot=point of impact. pic.twitter.com/Fs2jadCuoq
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 22, 2019
Separately, on the same day Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had a meeting with President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Gabriela Cuevas Barron.
Hassan Rouhani said the international community must react to the “intrusion” of the US drone.
“In recent years, Iranian oil platforms and cargo ships and even airliners have been attacked by American warships, and they have intruded Iran’s air space with their drone recently, which was shot down by Iranian defense forces after repeated warnings,” Rouhani said.
“This region is very delicate, and security of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman waterways is highly significant for many countries. Therefore, we expect all international institutions to show an appropriate reaction to this American aggressive measure,” the Iranian president said.
Senior Iranian military commander Major General Gholam Ali Rashid warned Washington to avoid mistaken moves in the region, saying that any irresponsible move would endanger the lives of the US soldiers.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is in a strategic confrontation to protect its stability and existence as well as the status of its regional power against the US-Zionist regime-Saudis coalition,” General Rashid, Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Headquarters, said addressing the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force’s commanders in Tehran.
“The US government should act responsibly and avoid wrong behavior in the region to protect the US forces’ lives and avoid endangering them,” he added.
He further said that Iran doesn’t wish war and if the US also doesn’t wish it then determination and proper behavior was needed.
On June 24th, Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said that Iran’s reciprocal action to reduce its JCPOA commitments will be taken on scheduled, saying the era of the gunboat diplomacy has come to an end.
Kamalvandi made a statement on Instagram after meeting with UK Undersecretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Andrew Morrison.
In response to Morrison’s remarks who expressed UK’s support of the JCPOA and called for Iran’s self-restraint in preserving the deal, Kamalvandi said that the US maximum pressure is doomed to failure.
Finally, in possible answer to US claims that a cyber-attack was launched on Iran, Iran’s ICT Minister Mohammd-Javad Azari Jahromi said that in the Iranian year, which ended on March 20th, the country’s cyber defense shield had defused 33 million cyber-attacks.
According to him, despite all their intensive campaign, the enemies failed to carry out any successful attack against Iran, the minister said.
He said that Iran defused all the cyber-attacks on the country last year by Dejfa defense shield.
“Dejfa is a security defense project for national information network which provides the security services needed by both private and state-owned businesses. The project aims to protect the people’s privacy in the face of scam and information leaks.”
These developments come approximately 2 weeks after two tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman – the Norwegian Front Altair and the Japanese Kokuka Courages.
The US blamed Iran for the attack, providing some dubious evidence. In spite of all the “proof,” Japan on June 23rd, provided Iran with a $2.5 million emergency aid to help flood victims.
Which is rather showing regarding what Japan thinks of the US accusations, keeping into account that the sailors and captain of the Kokuka Courages said that there was no “Iranian limpet mine.”
Finally, on the side of the US, National Security Adviser John Bolton visited Israel on June 23rd and spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Before entering the meeting, he said that US President Donald Trump’s decision not to retaliate to the Iranian “provocation” shouldn’t be deemed as weakness.
“Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness. No one has granted them a hunting license in the Middle East,” he said.
On June 22nd, Trump admitted that he had had stopped a strike on Iran from going forward, rather than ordering it and then walking back on the order.
I never called the strike against Iran “BACK,” as people are incorrectly reporting, I just stopped it from going forward at this time!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2019
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
