840 Academics Ask IRGC Aerospace Commander to Target Any Intruding US Army B-52s

TEHRAN (Defapress) - Hundreds of Iranian university professors, teaching or conducting research in various fields of soft power and soft warfare, called on Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh to open fire on any intruding US warplanes, specially B-52s, and warships that dares to cross Iran's borders in water and sky.

News ID: 82887

Date: 12 January 2021 - 19:08

A sum of 840 university professors in the fields of soft power and soft war, in a letter to Brigadier General Hajizadeh, urged him to shoot down any hostile warplane and warship, especially the American B-52s, as soon as they are detected in the territorial waters and skies of Iran.

The top academics addressed the top General as the 'Conquerer of Ein Al-Assad' in their letter, implying the last year IRGC Aerospace Force's missile strikes on the US Airbase in Southwestern Iraq that came in reprisal for the US assassination of Iran's top Anti-terror Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani who commanded the IRGC Qods Force.

The academicians pointed to the United States' empty awe and power which has been magnified by the Western, Zionist and Arab media outlets, and asked General Hajizadeh to shatter this unreal and fabricated image.

On Thursday December 10, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) had said that two B-52 bombers had been flown nonstop from Louisiana to the region as on an alleged short-notice mission.

In 2019, the IRGC shot down a US Navy’s Northrop Grumman MQ4-C Triton drone that had entered Iranian airspace in the Gulf of Oman to gather intelligence, using Sevvom Khordad (Khordad 3) indigenous surface-to-air missile system.

The United States had confirmed that one of its reconnaissance planes was shot down by Iranian air defenses, but denied that it intruded into Tehran’s airspace at the time.

Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said at the time that his forces could have also shot down a US P8 aircraft with 35 on board which was violating Iran’s airspace, but decided to shoot down the drone to only send a message to Washington.

“We intended to send a message to American terrorists in the region,” Brigadier General Hajizadeh said on June 21, 2019, adding that his forces had also traced a military P8 aircraft violating the airspace of Iran.

“Along with the American drone was an American P8 aircraft with 35 on board, and it was also violating our airspace and we could have downed it too,” he said, adding, “But we did not do (shoot down) it, because our aim was to warn the terrorist forces of the US.”

General Hajizadeh also stressed on June 22, 2019, that Iran was not after war but was fully ready to defend itself, adding that the fate of the downed US spy drone was waiting for any intruding flying object.

“Our response to anything trespassing Iranian territory is like this, and if such acts of aggression are repeated, our response will also be the same," General Hajizadeh said.

“We don’t embrace war but we are ready to fully defend the country,” he said.

"We possess a collection of US drones which is a proof that US has violated Iran’s airspace and shows that they don’t want to respect the international law,” General Hajizadeh said.

“If such an aggression is repeated, we will add other US (military) products to complete this collection,” he noted.

“The US measure was in violation of international law and we acted according to our legitimate responsibility,” General Hajizadeh said, adding, “It is possible that a US general or some operators were behind this American aggression, we don’t know that. But that measure (intruding into Iranian airspace) is a violation of international aviation rules by a spy drone which then received our natural response."

Meantime, IRGC Commander Major General Hossein Salami stressed that the move should alert Washington officials to stay away.

The incident sent "a clear message" to the US and other enemies that Iran will show a firm and crushing response to any aggression, he stated.

"Borders are our red lines and any enemy which violates them will not go back home and will be annihilated. The only way for enemies is to respect Iran's territorial integrity and national interests," the major general noted.