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We have warned 2 US spy aircraft in last 6 months: Iranian official

Iran’s air defence base has in the last six months sent two stern warnings to US spy aircraft which approached…

We have warned 2 US spy aircraft in last 6 months: Iranian official

Representative image (Photo: Getty Images)

Iran’s air defence base has in the last six months sent two stern warnings to US spy aircraft which approached Iranian airspace, a defence official said on Sunday.

“We warned a U2 reconnaissance aircraft on March 21 and a US drone on August 26,” Iran’s Arabic language TV station al-Alam’s website quoted the country’s Chief of Air Defence Farzad Esmaili as saying. He did not mention the location.

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Esmaili said “we do not allow such rabid aircraft to enter our territory and if necessary, we will not hesitate to destroy them”.

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Iran has repeatedly announced such activities over the past years to demonstrate the capabilities of the country’s armed forces.

Meanwhile, Iran has tested its home-grown air defence system, designed to match the Russian S-300, state broadcaster IRIB reported.

“The system is made completely in Iran and some of its parts are different from the S-300. All of its sub-systems have been completed and its missile tests have been conducted,” Xinhua news agency quoted Esmaili as saying.

“In parallel with the deployment of the S-300, work on Bavar-373 system is underway,” he added.

Bavar (which means “belief”) is Tehran’s first long-range missile defence system, and is set to be operational by March 2018, he added.

Iran began manufacturing Bavar-373 in 2010 after the purchase of the S-300 from Russia was suspended due to international sanctions.

He said he hoped “the combat capabilities of Iran’s ballistic and cruise missiles” would increase in the next four years.

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