Iran is threatening to sue the Israelis in the International Criminal Court following the alleged downing of an Israeli-made drone in Iranian territory Sunday.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the "Zionist regime" and threatened to sue it just a day after Iran’s military allegedly shot down the Israeli drone using a surface-to-air missile.
"This hostile action is a violation of Iranˈs territorial integrity and sovereignty," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham was quoted as saying Monday by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
"Iran has the right to take the necessary defensive action and pursue the case in international legal courts," IRNA reported Afkham as saying.
Iran displayed photos of the destroyed drone of state television Monday and has promised to respond to the incident by stepping up its efforts to arm Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank.
Iranian military leaders also implied the drone had not originated from Israel, but had taken off from a closer country.
"The operational range of the spy drone made it clear that it had not taken off from the occupied territories but from one of the regional states. There are some clues to this end which are being analyzed by Iranian experts," Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Aerospace Force, was quoted as saying.