Donald J. Trump : Iran made a very big mistake! – In a major provocation, Iran shot down an unarmed and unmanned U.S. RQ-4A Global Hawk drone while it was flying in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz Thursday, U.S. Central Command confirmed in a statement.
Mid-morning Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that President Trump has “been kept up to date” and was briefed both Thursday morning and Wednesday night. She said the White House would “keep in touch with members on the Hill” but would not confirm any White House meetings on Iran.
Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, offered a strongly worded threat to the U.S. after the drone was downed.
“Shooting down the American spy drone had a clear, decisive, firm and accurate message,” he said, translated from Farsi. “The message is that the guardians of the borders of Islamic Iran will decisively respond to the violation of any stranger to this land. The only solution for the enemies is to respect the territorial integrity and national interests of Iran.”
“We do not intend to engage in war with any country, but we are completely ready for the war. Today’s incident is a clear sign of this accurate message,” Salami added.
Earlier, Iranian state media had quoted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying it had downed the drone when it entered Iranian airspace near the Kouhmobarak district north of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false,” said CENTCOM spokesperson Navy Capt. Bill Urban in a statement on Thursday morning. “This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace.”
Urban said the RQ-4A Global Hawk, which “provides real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions,” was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz at approximately 11:35 p.m. GMT on June 19.
