TEHRAN – Laya Joneidi, the vice president for legal affairs, has denounced the U.S. move to deploy a spy drone into Iranian airspace as a “violation of international law”, saying the Islamic Republic will take legal action against Washington for violating Iran’s airspace.

Joneidi told reporters on Sunday that Iran will not allow any violation against its aerial, land or maritime borders.

She also highlighted the necessity of constant vigilance and efforts to avert a war, the Tasnim news agency reported.

In the early hours of June 20, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force shot down a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that intruded into the airspace of Iran.

The IRGC said the “Global Hawk” spy drone had taken off from a U.S. military base in south of the Persian Gulf at 19:44 GMT on Wednesday (00:14 am local time on Thursday), switched off all of its communication systems, and flew towards the port city of Chabahar via the Strait of Hormuz in maximum stealth.

The intruding drone was shot by Iran’s homegrown air defense missile system “Khordad-3rd”.

MH/PA