Iran threatens Israel with military action
By Sara Rajabova
The most recent incident between Iran and Israel involving an Israeli drone, or pilotless flying craft shot down by the Iranians, has raised the already high tension between the two countries yet another notch.
A high-ranking official of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said his country's reply to Israel "will not be diplomatic."
Iran's IRGC announced on August 24 that it had intercepted and shot down an Israeli spy drone.
It added that the stealth and radar-evading spy drone intended to reach the nuclear facility in Natanz, but was targeted by a surface-to-air missile before it reached the area.
Deputy Commander of the IRGC Hossein Salami said "Iran will respond the Israel's UAV assault in the battlefield," the Tasnim news agency reported.
However, Salami did not clarified what he means by battlefield. He went on to note that "the response may not be declared before."
The Israeli military refused to comment saying it does not comment on foreign reports, according to Reuters.
The Iranian commander also rejected speculations that the spy aircraft had taken off from Israel.
Salami said the stealth drone might have been launched from a military base in one of the countries in the region.
Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as a sovereign state after its establishment in 1948. However, since the Islamic revolution overthrew the shah, Iran severed diplomatic ties with Israel.
Israel sees the Iran's nuclear energy program as a threat, as it rules out the peaceful character of Tehran's nuclear program. Though the Western powers are negotiating with Iran to solve the decade-old nuclear dispute, Israel insists that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
Israeli officials have stated that Iran is trying to buy time through negotiations.
Adding to the tension is Iran's support of the Palestinian resistance, especially groups like Hamas, which is considered to be a terrorism group by the United States and Israel.
Tehran has strongly condemned the Israeli airstrikes on the blockaded Gaza Strip. Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza in early July, inflicting heavy losses in there.
Following the drone incident, senior military official announced that they will accelerate arming the Palestinians in the West Bank in response to the recent operation made by an Israeli-made drone.
"We will accelerate arming the West Bank and we think that we are entitled to give any response (to the recent operation) which we deem appropriate," Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said on August 25.
The incident reportedly happened on August 23, but the IRGC broke the news on August 24.
Iranian military officials said the Israeli drone that was shot down over the Iranian sky is a Hermes-type. The drone was equipped with two front and side cameras that could capture panoramic footage with a very high resolution, adding that it can operate within a range of 800 kilometers.
Israel and the West suspect Iran is planning to build a nuclear bomb. Iran has in the past accused its Western and Israeli foes of trying to sabotage its nuclear program, which Tehran says is intended for peaceful purposes.
On December 4, 2011, the Iranian military's electronic warfare unit announced that it had successfully downed an American RQ-170 reconnaissance and spy drone in the eastern part of Iran with the minimal damage. The RQ-170, an unmanned stealth aircraft designed and developed by the Lockheed Martin Company, had crossed into Iran's airspace over the border with Afghanistan.