Iran renews threat to attack Turkey

TEHRAN

Iranian FM Ali Akbar Salehi (L) speaks during a press conference alongside the Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu in this file photo. An Iranian official says the NATO radar system aims to protect the Israeli regime, under the name of NATO.

An Iranian security official said if there would be any attack on Iran they will ‘definitely’ target the missile system which is planned to be stationed in the eastern province of Malatya as part of NATO’s missile defense project and they have a plan to counteract the shield.

“We are closely monitoring the relations with Turkey in the National Security Commission of the parliament. Iran has warned before Turkey that the deployment of the system will have grave consequences. General Hajizadeh’s remarks are entirely true and when we were attacked, it is our natural right to defend ourselves,” said vice-chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, Hossein Ibrahimi.

Ankara conveys uneaseness before
“Our armed forces have pre-studied plans and tactics against the NATO system,” Ibrahimi told Farsi-language Shargh newspaper. “This system actually aims to protect the Zionist regime, under the name of NATO. This is a problem for Turkey who authorized the deployment of the system. Turkey shouldn’t do this,” Ibrahimi said, commenting on whether a possible strike would also pose a threat to Turkey because the system was stationed there, Doğan News Agency reported.

Ankara previously conveyed unease to Tehran over the remarks warning that Iran would target NATO missile defense installations in Turkey’s Malatya province if the U.S. or Israel attacked by Gen. Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the aerospace unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu conveyed to his Iranian counterpart Turkey’s disturbance over recent Iranian threats to attack installations in Turkey when the two met in Jeddah on Nov. 30. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the air force commander’s remarks did not reflect Tehran’s official position. Iranian officials have long criticized Ankara for deploying a U.S.-led NATO early warning radar system in its territories, but it was the first time a high ranking military official from Iran warned of a military act against Turkey.

TEHRAN WON’T RETURN DRONE

TEHRAN

Iran will not return a U.S. surveillance drone captured by its armed forces, a senior commander of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard said yesterday. Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy head of the Guard, said that the violation of Iran’s airspace by the U.S. drone was a “hostile act” and warned of a “bigger” response, Associated Press reported. Hossein Ibrahimi, a senior parliamentarian, underlined Tehran’s advanced technological capabilities and possibilities, and said the Iranian Armed Forces intend to simulate the design and reproduce the capture drone, Fars news agency reported. Iran has also summoned the Afghan ambassador to protest the violation of its airspace.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, reiterated yesterday that he regretted last month’s storming of the British embassy in Tehran, but asserted that the incident was “not foreseeable,” Agence France-Presse reported. “The incursion into the embassy was not foreseeable... The protest had the necessary permission and was supposed to be held within the law,” he said, according to the Mehr news agency.