The Iranian government threatened to shoot down U.S. spy planes over the weekend flying purposefully close to its borders but still in international airspace, officials confirmed to Fox News.
Fox cites three officials familiar with the incident who say a Navy P-8 Poseidon and an EP-3 Eries were flying a reconnaissance mission on Sept. 10 one mile outside of Iran’s territorial waters, which according to international law extend 12 miles out to sea. During the flight, the Iranian military warned the planes it would shoot them down if they didn’t change course. One of the officials told Fox News the U.S. was confident Iran did not have missile launchers in the area capable of downing the plane, according to the latest intelligence reports.
[READ: Iran Probes for U.S. Weaknesses in Gulf Encounters]
“We wanted to test the Iranian reaction,” another official told Fox News.
“It’s one thing to tell someone to get off your lawn, but we weren’t on their lawn,” the official said. “Anytime you threaten to shoot someone down, it’s not considered professional.”
The incident follows a series of increasingly tense interactions between the Iranian and U.S. militaries, perhaps most notably in January when Iran detained 10 U.S. Navy sailors after their small boats drifted into Iranian waters. Tehran continues to exploit that incident for propaganda purposes.
Alreza Tangsiri, a lieutenant commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy, warned the U.S. Navy in July that any other ship that approaches Iran’s territorial waters would face similar treatment.
[MORE: Iran Intercepts U.S. Warship in Strait of Hormuz]
Leaders of the IRGC, which practices some level of autonomy independent of Tehran’s chain of command, have publicly questioned whether the U.S. would confront Iran militarily.
Small IRGC boats have routinely harassed U.S. Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf, most recently earlier in September when an American coastal patrol ship was intercepted by seven Iranian vessels. U.S. Navy ships were forced to fire warning shots at IRGC boats in late August that maneuvered within a few hundred meters.
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Report: Iran Threatens U.S. Spy Planes Flying Close to Border originally appeared on usnews.com
