Iran threatens military retaliation against Israel for alleged spy drone

"Our response to this aggression will not be diplomatic, we will retaliate in the battlefield, but will not necessarily announce it" Revolutionary Guard chief vows.

Iran displays alleged Israeli spy drone (photo credit: screenshot)
Iran displays alleged Israeli spy drone
(photo credit: screenshot)
Iran threatened a military response against Israel on Tuesday after the Revolutionary Guard claimed to have shot down an Israeli spy drone which was approaching the Natanz nuclear facility on Monday.
"Our response to this aggression will not be diplomatic, we will retaliate in the battlefield, but will not necessarily announce it. The enemy will see and understand it," Revolutionary Guard Lieutenant Commander Brig.- Gen. Hossein Salami was quoted as saying by the Fars News Agency.
"We never step back against the enemy. The Islamic Republic is powerful and is capable of confronting any power at any level and we never bring down the level of our goals," he reportedly added.
Salami hinted that the drone had taken off from the territory of one of Iran's neighbors, but would not specify which country.
"What some people say that the drone had started its flight from Israel is not correct and we are almost certain about its origin, yet we would like to reserve judgment at present," he said.
Salami said Iran did not plan to reverse engineer the drone to build its own model, implying that Iran's own drone technology was further advanced than the captured Hermes model Israeli drone.