Iranian media reports say Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has insisted again that the downed US drone was in Iranian airspace as more evidence suggests, adding that US economic terrorism on Iran is a source of tension.
In a post on his Twitter account on Sunday, the top Iranian diplomat has also warned the US President Donald Trump against the danger of the so-called B-Team, which reportedly represents the first letter of the names of three hawkish politicians including the US National Security Advisor John Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Zarif warns Donald Trump that this team is plotting to drag US into a war with Iran.
“More evidence—including encroachment of a MQ9 spy drone on 5/26, speedboat purchases & phone calls planning to attribute ship attacks to Iran—indicate B-Team was moments away from trapping Donald Trump into a war. Prudence prevented it, but economic terrorism brings tension,” Iranian foreign minister wrote in a Tweet on Sunday afternoon.
He also posted a photo which displays the coordinates of the US spy drone before it was targeted by IRGC.
Tensions have escalated dramatically since Iran downed a large U.S. drone, which it said violated its airspace. The U.S. said the unmanned drone was in international airspace.
According to Press TV, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on June 20 that its air defense force had shot down an intruding US spy drone in the country’s southern coastal province of Hormozgan.
The IRGC said in a statement that the US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region, which sits in the central district of Jask County, after the aircraft violated Iranian airspace.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that the recent encroachment on the Islamic Republic's airspace by the US spy drone is the "beginning of new tension in the region."
Meanwhile the U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the United States and Iran to avoid escalation.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at U.N. Headquarters on June 21 that “the Secretary-General firmly believes in the need for dialogue between the parties involved as probably the best way to defuse tension and to avoid any escalation.”
Dujarric said the U.N. has been in contact with the parties at various levels and is passing the same message in public and it is in private, “which is to avoid any escalation.”
