Iranian military officials announced on Monday that an advanced U.S. spy plane had been detected at the country’s borders, prompting Tehran’s "missile systems" to come "into action" in a successful bid to deter the American craft, according to Iranian military officials.
The U.S. plane was purportedly spotted last week, though news of the incident is just being publicized by Iran, according to Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli, Iran’s top air defense commander, who said that the craft backed off "after Iranian missile shields locked on the U.S. spy plane."
Iran warned the United States to call off its U-2 stealth spy aircraft, a high altitude reconnaissance plane currently operated by the U.S. Air Force and formerly flown by the CIA.
Iran claims to have tracked the plane to its border, at which point at warning call was issued.
"Last week a U-2 spy plane was tracked in the proximity of our country's borders; our missile systems came into action and we warned the aircraft and made it make a U-turn," Esmayeeli was quoted as saying during a public event in Tehran over the weekend.
Esmayeeli emphasized that while the U-2 craft cannot be detected by the majority of nations in the region, "it was tracked and identified by our systems."
The United States has yet to comment on the reports.