国际英语新闻:Iran to sue Israel over drone issue: spokesperson

TEHRAN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iran will sue Israel legally over its alleged violation of Iran's air space, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said here on Monday following reports that Iran had downed an Israeli stealth drone in its airspace.

"We will take a proper defensive measure over the clear violation of our country's integrity, and we preserve the right to follow up the issue in the legal and international bodies," Afkham was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

Iran will give a crushing response to any enemy aggression against its soil, Iranian military officials also said on Monday.

"Iran will respond to any aggression, from any aggressor, under any circumstances" and "this is a serious message from Iran," Iran 's Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan was quoted as saying by Press TV on Monday.

Meanwhile, Commanders of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) also threatened retaliatory steps in the wake of the downing of the drone.

"We will accelerate arming (Palestinians) in the West Bank and we preserve the rights for any response" to Israel in retaliation for its drone penetrating Iran's space, Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, aerospace commander of IRGC, was quoted as saying by semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran's military forces are fully ready to detect and intercept the flying objects of the enemy over the country's air space, Hajizadeh said Monday, adding that "in case these actions are repeated, the aggressors should wait for our crushing response."

The IRGC said Sunday that it had downed an "Israeli spy drone" near Natanz uranium enrichment site in the central province of Isfahan.

After the drone of Israel, which was a stealth and radar- evading kind, was intercepted by IRGC's air defense system, it was targeted by a missile and downed before penetrating the airspace over the Natanz nuclear site, a statement by IRGC said without elaborating on when the drone was shot down.

It said the main parts of the drone were undamaged, according to Press TV.

Iran's state TV on Monday broadcast footage of an allegedly Israeli drone, showing small scraps of the destroyed drone in a dessert-like area.

"The downed spy drone is Hermes and made in Israel," Hajizadeh said, adding that the operational range of Hermes drones is 800 km and the aircraft can fly 1,600 km by refueling once.

The Israeli drone is equipped with two cameras, enabling the espionage aircraft to capture high-quality images, Press TV quoted him as saying.

The country's military experts will analyze the remaining parts of the downed drone to extract any data stored on its system, Dehqan was also quoted as saying.

The Iranian defense minister said Israel and the United States seek to create the impression that they could penetrate the airspace of any country to conduct spying operations.

On Saturday, Iran launched a uranium-conversion plant which would produce enriched uranium dioxide in Isfahan province within the framework of the agreement with the P5+1 group, namely Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States plus Germany.

Under an interim deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 that came into effect on Jan. 20, Iran would suspend some sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for limited sanction relief, and the two sides would negotiate over a comprehensive deal within six months.

After six months of negotiations, Iran and the six world powers agreed on July 19 to extend their talks until Nov. 24, as disagreements remained over Tehran's uranium enrichment capacity, its Arak heavy water reactor and the sanctions.

The two sides are expected to hold meetings in New York in Sept. .