TEHRAN, March 12 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian commander said Tuesday that the Islamic republic repelled an American U2 reconnaissance plane as it was trying to enter Iran's airspace, Press TV reported.
Commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said that the country's air defense systems identified the radar-evading plane in southern country on Feb. 10 but the plane left the area after receiving a warning from Iran's air-defense units, according to the report.
"The U.S. U2 plane was flying from Pakistan's southwest to the east of the Sea of Oman and was being monitored by our radar and electronic surveillance systems every moment," the Iranian commander said, adding that Iran's Persian Gulf radar gave it a warning when it was trying to enter Iran's airspace above the Sea of Oman and southeast of the Strait of Hormuz.
Esmaili said that the plane, which is one of the world's most technologically-advanced reconnaissance aircraft, probably intended to take images of and gather information about Iran's southern region.
In December 2011, Iranian media reported that the Iranian military downed a U.S. RQ-170 stealth aircraft in the eastern part of Iran.
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