Regional News :Iran Raps US over Airspace Violation, Refuses...

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Iran Raps US over Airspace Violation, Refuses Plea to Return Downed Drone

Local Editor

Following days of silence on the US drone, US President Barack Obama said Washington has asked Tehran to return the US reconnaissance drone.
"We've asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," Obama said in a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday.

The plea comes as the US and CIA refused to adopt an official position after Iran aired footage of the captured unmanned aerial vehicle.

Meanwhile, a senior Iranian lawmaker says Iran will definitely not return the RQ-170 spy drone to the US, and Washington has to compensate Tehran for violating the country's airspace.
The White House must face the consequences of violating Iran's airspace and not request its drone back, Chairman of Iran's Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Tuesday, adding that returning the RQ-170 drone is out of the question.

The US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft was landed with minimal damage by the Iranian Army's electronic warfare unit on December 4 while flying over the northeastern Iran city of Kashmar, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) away from the Afghan border.
On Monday the Obama administration delivered a formal request to Iran for the return of the drone.
"[US President Barack] Obama is ignoring the fact that a spy drone has violated Iran's airspace and according to International law this is a crime (offence?)," Boroujerdi said.

Boroujerdi said the US must "pay compensation for the violating Iran's airspace," in addition to apologizing to the Islamic Republic.
On the same note, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says the US's official demand from Iran to return an intruding American drone to the US is a "forward escape tactic" that comes instead of an apology for its flagrant intrusion into the Iranian airspace.

It seems that US President Barack Obama has forgotten that the United States has violated Iran's airspace and engaged in an intrusive spying operation as well as interfering in the nation's internal affairs, which are all in violation of international law, Mehmanparast told reporters at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
The US needs to understand that what it has done in violating the Iranian airspace is a sort of measure that can threaten global peace and security, he added.

In an apparent forward escape tactic, Obama has pleaded for the return of the spy drone rather than making an official apology and admitting to the intrusive violation of Iran's sovereignty, the Iranian spokesperson pointed out.

Mehmanparast emphasized that the US must accept responsibility for intruding into Iran's airspace and the ensuing consequences of such abusive conduct.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org team