Russia:

US Deliberately Stoking Tensions around Iran

TEHRAN (defapress) – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accused the US of deliberately stoking dangerous tensions around Iran and pushing the situation to the brink of war.

News ID: 77834

Date: 22 June 2019 - 11:07

Ryabkov called on Washington on Friday to weigh the possible consequences of conflict with Iran and said a report in the New York Times showed the situation was extremely dangerous, Reuters reported.

He was referring to a report by the paper citing military and diplomatic officials as saying that the US president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries but called off the attacks at the last minute.

Trump tweeted Friday morning that he canceled the attack 10 minutes before the strike after "a general" told him that 150 people would likely be killed.

The IRGC said on Thursday that a US spy drone that violated the Iranian territorial airspace in the early hours of the day was shot down by the IRGC Aerospace Force’s air defense unit near the Kooh-e-Mobarak region in the southern province of Hormozgan.

The intruding drone was shot by Iran’s homegrown air defense missile system “Khordad-3rd”.

Commenting on the operation, Major General Hossein Salami, the IRGC’s chief commander, said, “At dawn today, the IRGC’s Air Force bravely downed a US spy drone, which had intruded our border, violating our national security. This is how the Iranian nation deals with its enemies.”

The IRGC’s chief said Iranian frontiers are “our red line,” and that the downing of the American drone sent a “transparent and firm message” that the defenders of Iranian borders would react to any act of aggression by any outsider with a “decisive and final” strike.

He reaffirmed that Iran is not seeking war with anyone, but stands fully ready to firmly respond to any aggression.

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