Washington, December 15: The US defense secretary says spy drone missions will continue in western Afghanistan, despite the international scandal created after Iran downed an American reconnaissance plane violating its airspace.
“Those operations have to be protected in order to do the job and the mission that they’re involved with,” Leon Panetta told Fox News on Tuesday.
Panetta added that these missions, which are reportedly being run from Shindad Air Base in western Afghanistan, will “absolutely” continue.
On December 4, Iranian Army’s electronic warfare unit landed a US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone, which was flying over the northeastern Iran city of Kashmar, with minimal damage.
One day later, two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the drone had been part of a CIA espionage mission, involving the United State’s intelligence community stationed in Afghanistan.
On Monday US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Washington has submitted a formal request to Tehran to return the drone.
Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, however, told reporters on Tuesday that the aircraft would remain in the country’s possession as it is the property of the Islamic Republic.
The RQ-170 is an unmanned stealth aircraft designed and developed by the Lockheed Martin Company.
Tehran says that the US drone spy mission was a “hostile act,” and has lodged a complaint with the United Nations over the violation of its sovereignty by the reconnaissance aircraft.
——-Agencies