Iran says it refrained from shooting down US plane with 35 on board: Iran media

Al-Arabia – Iran refrained from shooting down a US plane with 35 people on board that was accompanying the downed drone in the Gulf, a Revolutionary Guards commander said on Friday.

Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace division, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency: “With the US drone in the region there was also an American P-8 plane with 35 people on board. This plane also entered our airspace and we could have shot it down, but we did not.”

Iranian TV IRIB aired pictures showing what Iran says are debris from the US drone.

Iran gave two warnings before downing the US drone over the Gulf of Oman, the commander of the aerospace arm of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards said earlier on Friday.

“Twice we… sent warnings,” Hajizadeh said, without specifying the means.

“Unfortunately, when they failed to reply… and the aircraft made no change to its trajectory… we were obliged to shoot it down,” he added.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States has documented that its drone was in international waters, not in Iranian territory as Tehran has said.Last Update: Friday, 21 June 2019 KSA 15:22 – GMT 12:22