This was “small portion of Iran's great defense capacities”: official

“If making a mistake, the end of the line will be determined by powerful Iran,” he warned US President Donald Trump in a Thursday tweet.

“Today, Trump and the White House hawks just received a resolute message from a small portion of Iran's great defense capacities, leading to the shoot-down of the US advanced drone,” he also added.

IRGC announced on Thursday that its air defense has targeted and downed a US spy drone which had violated Iran’s territory and conducted espionage activities.

US spy drone, Global Hawk, took off from a known US military base in the southern regions of the Persian Gulf at 00:14 AM local time, reads the IRGC statement, adding that the drone had turned off all its equipment which could reveal its identity, despite all aviation rules, before heading from the Hormuz Strait towards Chabahar.

In his way back to the western regions, and near the Hormuz Strait, the drone intruded in Iran’s territory and was gathering information, IRGC noted.

The statement went on to say that the IRGC air defense system targeted and downed the US intruding drone at 4:05 AM local time.

Meanwhile, US Central Command claims that the drone was in international airspace when hit by Iranian surface-to-air missile.

MNA/4646318