Iran: Foreign planes, steer away from Gulf military drill

TEHRAN, Iran (Kurdistan24) – Iran issued a warning to foreign planes, including the US Navy, to keep away from its southern region amid a large-scale military drill, an Iranian military spokesman said on Wednesday.

Iranian Air Defense General Abbas Farajpour said Tehran warned 12 fighter jets and drones belonging to several regional countries to steer clear of its airspace.

The cautions were issued before the start of the Defenders of Velayat Skies 7 military exercise which began on Monday.

In the past two days, Iran had reportedly been successful in test-firing a long-range surface-to-air missile.

“In the past three days, more than 12 warnings have been issued to aircrafts from outside the region to refrain from approaching the airspace of the maneuver area,” the official news agency IRNA quoted Brigadier-General Abbas Farajpour Alamdari.

Several fighter jets and drones belonged to the US Navy, Farajpour added.

“Of course, we are witnessing the presence of a number of trans-regional planes outside the air and sea borders of the country,” Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli said.

“But, we emphasize that these planes should know their limits and know that we will take action in less than one second,” he continued.

“They should fully keep away from the drills zone,” Esmayeeli added.

Iran successfully test-fired its S-200 surface-to-air missile in Bushehr.

Iran also deployed missile defense systems to destroy mock hostile drones in Kharg Island.

There was no immediate US reaction at the time of publishing this report.

However, President-elect Donald J. Trump had previously said his administration would renew sanctions on Iran, adding he did not agree with the deal negotiated under President Barack Obama’s leadership.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany