Iran Shoots Down Many Western Drones, IRGC Commander

Iran Shoots Down Several Foreign Spy Planes

Jan. 2, 2011

TEHRAN (FNA)-

Iranian military forces have shot down several spy planes of foreign forces, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on Sunday, adding that two of these planes have been shot down over the Persian Gulf.

Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh told "Payam Engelab" (Message of the Revolution), an internal publication of the IRGC, that western forces in the region have made limited aggressions against Iran, and "we have, thus far, shot down a large number of their highly advanced spy planes".

"Two of these planes have been shot down in the Persian Gulf," Gen. Hajizadeh continued.

The commander said that Iran has shot down many foreign planes, but did not reveal it to the media, "and this is the first time that we reveal this news".

He declined to mention the exact date and location of the development.

After shooting down these planes the IRGC aerospace unit has copied and produced them in large numbers through reverse engineering, the commander added.

This is the second time Iran announces that it has shot down western aircraft. In January 2007, an Iranian lawmaker told FNA that Iranian military troops have shot down a spy plane of the US army.

Representative of Dasht-e Azadegan at the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Seyed Nezam Mola Hoveizeh told FNA at the time that the aircraft was a spy drone of the US army and that it had been shot down when trying to cross the borders.

"Americans send such spy drones to the region every now and then," the lawmaker further pointed out.

Also in May 2010, Commander of the Iranian Army Major General Ataollah Salehi said that Iran's air-defense units shooed away a US military reconnaissance plane seeking to approach the Iranian Army's wargame zone in the Strait of Hormuz and Northern Indian Ocean.

"Yesterday a US reconnaissance plane sought to approach our region but it left the area after receiving a prompt warning from the Army's air-defense (unit)," Commander of the Iranian Army Major General Ataollah Salehi told reporters on May 11.

Iran Shoots Down Many Western Drones, IRGC Commander

TEHRAN, Jan. 2, 2011 (Xinhua) --

An Islamic Revolution Guards Corps ( IRGC) commander told semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday that Iran, so far, has shot down many western drones, two of them in the Persian Gulf.

Aerospace Commander of the IRGC Amir Ali Hadgizadeh told Fars that "they (western drones) have entered our territory a number of times and we have, so far, shot down many of their advanced spy drones."

"We have shot down two of their drones in the Persian Gulf and this is for the first time that is announced," the commander was quoted by Fars as saying.

"Westerners have already possess a series of capabilities which cannot be ignored, especially satellites," Hadgizadeh said, adding "western countries have spy planes which can take pictures in some places. Such capabilities are mainly used in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they don't dare to broadly use them in our country."

Hadgizadeh stressed that the Iranian forces have full control of enemies' movements and the shifts around its boarders, saying " we are fully aware of when they put on their life jackets and launch boats in the sea."

Iran has made considerable progress in the past decades over the development of the middle-range and long-range missiles, however, Teheran has reiterated that its missile capability is "a defensive tool against invasions."

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