“When an aircraft, fighter or civilian, violates a country’s airspace, the first measure to take is not to shoot it down. To maintain peace and security in the region one must not use the last resort as the first option,” Iran’s Commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaeili said on Saturday.
The commander’s remarks came in reference to the recent shooting down of a Russian jet fighter by Turkish military which has escalated heated tension between the two countries to unprecedented levels.
“The violation of Turkey’s airspace has not been proved yet and NATO and Russia are currently probing into this matter,” he said.
He went on to say that while NATO believes the violation had taken place, Russia has based its argument on satellite images which reportedly disproves the violation.
“The Islamic Republic forced the military charter plane with 108 NATO military personnel onboard to land in Bandar Abbas; although we had every right to shoot it down since it had obviously violated Iran’s airspace,” he said.
