TEHRAN – The Non-Aligned Movement issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the recent violation of Iran’s airspace by a U.S. spy drone.

Iran announced on December 4, 2011 that an advanced RQ-170 unmanned U.S. spy plane had been downed by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic but did not say when the incident occurred.  

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced on December 18, 2011 that Tehran had sent letters to a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Non-Aligned Movement over the issue. 

NAM’s statement reads, “The Non-Aligned Movement Coordinating Bureau reaffirms its commitment to uphold the principles and objectives of the United Nations Charter, including the principles of sovereignty and the sovereign quality of States, territorial integrity, and non-intervention in the internal affairs of any State.” 

The statement added, “Guided by this firm commitment, the Movement condemns the latest incident of the American unmanned spy plane (drone)… and considers that this action contravenes all universally accepted existing international norms relating to sovereignty and inviolability of air space of sovereign countries and the basic purposes of peaceful and friendly relations that should exist among sovereign States, and contradicts with the Founding Principles of the Movement, the Declaration of the purposes and principles and the role of the Non-Aligned Movement in the present international juncture adopted in the 14th NAM Summit in Havana, and the Final Documents of the NAM consecutive Summits ending by the 15th Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Sharm EL Sheikh in 2009.”