TEHRAN – The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that the downing of a U.S. spy drone over the southern parts of Iran sends a “clear message” to Washington.

The message is that while Tehran is not seeking war it is completely ready to fight if necessary, Major General Hossein Salami said.

Speaking at an event in the western province of Kordestan, he stressed that the Islamic Republic will respond firmly to any act of intrusion.

“You heard today that in the early morning the Guard’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,” the IRGC chief asserted.

Noting that Iran considered its borders as “red line”, the general said: “Any enemy that breaches these borders won’t go back.”

“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.

Earlier on Thursday, the IRGC announced that it had downed a U.S. spy drone near the Strait of Hormuz, as it breached Iranian airspace over the coastal province of Hormuzagan.

An unnamed U.S. military official confirmed that a U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton drone had been shot down in the region. 

SP/PA