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| Iran |
| Iran warns U.S. not to violate its airspace |
| 2003-02-19 |
| Iran warned the United States on Wednesday that any violation of Iranian airspace by American planes would be met with a "swift and resolute" response. Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani was commenting on several U.S. planes seen flying very close to Abadan, a port city in southwestern Iran. "We will not allow our airspace to be violated. If it happens, we will prevent its reoccurrence through our swift and resolute response," Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. A stern letter of protest? A strong message of warning? "The Americans state that their weapons and instruments are accurate and error-free. Of course, the USS Vincennes proved otherwise," Shamkhani said. In 1988, the USS Vincennes cruiser shot down an Iran Air Airbus A300 over the Gulf, killing all 290 passengers and crew aboard. Weapons worked just fine, seems to me. Of course, the target was miss-identified, but another of our ships had been hit by an Iraqi air to surface missile in the same region. They were nervous and a mite trigger happy. Shit happens in a war zone. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 The F-14's that the Iranians have are the F-14A, and they havent exactly received topline maintenance and spares since the Shah has left( 1979). I seriously doubt that they are serviceable. The only weapons system that truly and deeply worries me is the Skvall torpedo. They get close enough to launch one of these suckers, they will sink what they aim at and theres no effective counter measures. |
| Posted by: Frank Martin 2003-02-19 23:29:44 |
| #6 One thing that is NEVER mentioned about the Vincennes incident is that the cruiser was being shot at by 3 Iranian Boghammer patrol boats just before the Airbus flew into range. The Airbus was behind schedule unfortunately and given the sort of behavior that Islamists have shown/continue to show, it was not a real stretch of the imagination to think that the plane was a threat. |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2003-02-19 20:58:31 |
| #5 You know the Iranians have F-14s. Here's a link. Of course, in case of war they won't actually fly them. They'll just hitch them up to a Suburban, tow them to the edge of the Gulf and fire the air-to-air missles at American battle groups. |
| Posted by: H.D. Miller 2003-02-19 18:37:26 |
| #4 No. First a fearsome fatwa. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-02-19 15:05:58 |
| #3 "A stern letter of protest? A strong message of warning?" Nooooo, a call for martyrdom! |
| Posted by: RW 2003-02-19 14:47:52 |
| #2 We'll fly a Tupolev into you |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-02-19 17:29:13 |
| #1 Plus the airliner had a military transponder. |
| Posted by: JAB 2003-02-19 14:38:30 |