-Iran has no right to respond to diplomacy 'with military force says US
-We gave two warnings before downing US drone - Irania general
The Decision to abort Iranian strike was communicated to British defence officials at 0300 GMT after the US president, Donald Trump ordered a military strike on Iranian targets in response to Tehran’s shooting down of a naval surveillance drone before reversing course.
The British military chiefs were notified about plans for a US strike against Iranian targets overnight but was later aborted, a UK defence official told the FT.
The news of possible military action underscored the volatility of the situation after weeks of mounting US-Iran tensions that culminated in Thursday’s drone strike, the first successful Iranian attack on an American asset in the recent past. It emerged as the US Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency notice barring US airlines from flying in airspace over parts of the Gulf because of heightened tensions following the drone incident on Thursday.
US and Iran on Friday continued to blame each other for triggering the drone strike, with Tehran claiming the aerial vehicle was in Iranian airspace while Washington insisted it was in international airspace.
Iran summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran — who represents US interests because Washington has no diplomatic staff in the country — and handed him a letter protesting against the “intrusion of the unnamed US aircraft”. In the first public comments from a senior US official since the aborted military strike, Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, emphasised the need to de-escalate tensions with Iran.
The US said Friday Iran has no right to respond to diplomacy "with military force", a day after Tehran shot down a US reconnaissance drone over the Strait of Hormuz
"Our diplomacy does not give Iran the right to respond with military force," Brian Hook, the US special representative on Iran, told reporters in Saudi Arabia.
"Iran needs to meet diplomacy with diplomacy, not military force."
The downing of the drone -- which Washington insists was over international waters but Tehran says was within its airspace -- has seen tensions between the two countries spike further after a series of attacks on tankers the US and its staunch ally, Saudi Arabia, have blamed on Iran.
Tehran denies having been behind the attacks but has frequently threatened in the past to block the vital sea lanes into and out of the Gulf.
On the Downing of the Drone, the commander of the aerospace arm of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards said on Friday (June 21).
"Twice we... sent warnings," Brigadier-General Amirali Hajizadeh told state television.
Brig-Gen Hajizadeh said that even pilotless drones, like the one shot down on Thursday, had systems to relay warnings and other communications to their operators thousands of kilometres away in the United States.
"Twice we... sent warnings," Brigadier-General Amirali Hajizadeh told state television.
Brig-Gen Hajizadeh said that even pilotless drones, like the one shot down on Thursday, had systems to relay warnings and other communications to their operators thousands of kilometres away in the United States.
"This aircraft possesses a system which allows it to relay the signals and information it receives to its own central system," he said.
"Unfortunately, when they failed to reply and the army gave a second appeal at 3.55am (2325 GMT Wednesday) and they kept on getting nearer and the aircraft made no change to its trajectory, at 4.05am (2335 GMT) we were obliged to shoot it down."
Brig-Gen Hajizadeh stressed that the order was given only after the aircraft had entered Iranian airspace.
Iran says the U.S. drone was a “very dangerous provocation” and urges the international community to demand that Washington end its drone spying.
The US diplomat while in Saudi Arabia, where he met deputy defence minister Prince Khaled bin Salman on Friday morning insisted that Iran is responsible for escalating tensions in the region. They continue to reject diplomatic overtures to deescalate tensions," Hook said.
The two discussed efforts to counter Iranian actions, Salman said on Twitter.
"We affirmed the kingdom's support for the United States' maximum pressure campaign on Iran, which came as a result of continuing Iranian hostility and terrorism, and discussed latest Iranian attacks on the kingdom," he said.
US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said he does not want war, offered mixed messages over the drone, warning that Iran "made a very big mistake" -- but also suggesting a "loose and stupid" Iranian general accidentally shot it down.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington have grown sharply since May last year when Trump unilaterally abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between major powers and Iran, and reimposed sweeping sanctions.
The US has since bolstered its military presence in the Middle East and blacklisted Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation.
Trump has said he remains open to negotiations with Iran, but its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week categorically ruled out talks with Trump after his abandonment of the nuclear deal.
Iran "has no trust in America and will not in any way repeat the bitter experience of the previous negotiations with America," Khamenei said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman says Germany welcomes reports that President Donald Trump apparently decided against immediate military strikes in retaliation for Iran’s downing of an American reconnaissance drone.
The spokeswoman was asked on Friday about reports that Trump approved military strikes and then decided against launching them the night before.
Martina Fietz says that “regarding President Trump, I can say that there are numerous statements and indications that the American president would like to avoid a military confrontation and we naturally welcome that.”
Merkel has been calling for both sides to deescalate the tensions in the region and Fietz reiterated that “we welcome any steps that can contribute to de-escalation.”
Some of the world's leading carriers including British Airways, Qantas and Singapore Airlines have suspended flights over the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran-US tensions flare over the downing of a drone.
The low-cost airline FlyDubai says it has “adjusted” some of its flight paths after the U.S. warned about the risk of commercial jetliners being attacked near the Strait of Hormuz following Iran’s shootdown of an American military surveillance drone. AP reported
FlyDubai told The Associated Press in a statement on Friday that it “adjusted some of the existing flight paths in the region as a precautionary measure.” It said it continues to monitor the situation.
The downing of the U.S. Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk has escalated already heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
Major international airlines say they have rerouted their flights to avoid the area after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to pilots early Friday.
Sources: AFP/FT/ST
FlyDubai told The Associated Press in a statement on Friday that it “adjusted some of the existing flight paths in the region as a precautionary measure.” It said it continues to monitor the situation.
The downing of the U.S. Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk has escalated already heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
Major international airlines say they have rerouted their flights to avoid the area after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to pilots early Friday.
Sources: AFP/FT/ST
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