TEHRAN – In a letter to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif published late Saturday, Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said Iran must legally pursue the United States’ harassment against a passenger plane.

“Once again, the United States turned another page in its dark record against the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its fighter jets conducted threatening and dangerous moves close to Mahan flight number 1152 in Syrian airspace on Thursday, July 23,” he remarked.

The prosecutor said passengers and crew were hurt as the pilot was forced to abruptly drop altitude.

The national prosecutor said the Iranian flights conform to law and the U.S. act was contrary to international law and the Chicago and Montreal conventions.

“So, it is essential for the executive bodies, including Civil Aviation Organization and Mahan airline, to cooperate with the Syrian government and ICAO [the International Civil Aviation Organization] to implement articles 13 and 17 of the Chicago Convention and receive the report on the incident as soon as possible and take necessary legal action according to articles 44, 54, 55, 84 and 85 of the Chicago Convention,” he stated.

U.S. warplanes operating illegally in Syria conducted aggressive maneuvers close to an Iranian Mahan Air flight over Syria’s al-Tanf region on Thursday. The plane was en route to the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

NA/PA