Tehran to produce new raid drones

TEHRAN

Defense Minister Vahidi (R) slams the US over its drone activities on Iran. REUTERS photo

Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Dec. 17 that Iran is in the process of manufacturing new assault unmanned aerial vehicles in the country’s latest claim of success in its spying war with Washington.

Vahidi made the remarks less than two weeks after Iran announced its armed forces had downed a United States drone, named the RQ-170 Sentinel, which had penetrated 250 km into Iran’s airspace.
Commenting on U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s remarks that the U.S. drone campaign over Iran will continue, he said Iran does not expect those people who have hegemonistic and aggressive natures to readily give up and abandon their plans, Mehr news agency reported. The fact they officially announced such decisions signifies their profound weakness because such moves are regarded as clear acts of aggression, he said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said its agents have arrested a person of Iranian origin on suspicion of spying for the U.S. The ministry said in a statement broadcast on state TV that Iran’s secret services identified the suspect at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Bagram is the main base for American and other international forces outside Kabul, the Associated Press reported. “The individual was put under the watch of Iran’s intelligence and was being pursued after crossing into our country and arrested simultaneously as he began his espionage mission,” the statement said.

It said the suspect, whom it did not identify by name, sought to infiltrate Iran’s secret services and funnel false information to deceive Iranian intelligence. The report alleged the attempted infiltration was part of a complicated intelligence battle the U.S. had launched against Iran.