Iran Press/Iran news: “Iran condemns, in the strongest possible terms, this irresponsible and provocative wrongful act by the US, which entails its international responsibility,” Majid Takhte Ravanchi, Iran's ambassador to the UN, wrote in a letter addressed to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had shot down an unmanned US aircraft after it breached the country's airspace.
Ravanchi wrote in the letter that Iran had the right to defend its sovereignty according to the world body's Charter, PRESS TV reported.
"While the Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek war, it reserves its inherent right, under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, to take all appropriate necessary measures against any hostile act violating its territory, and is determined to vigorously defend its land, sea and air."
He called on the international community to pressure the US into ending such "unlawful and destabilizing" actions in the Persian Gulf region.
"This is not the first provocative act by the United States against Iran's territorial integrity," he said, reminding the UN that Iran has always protested the US move through Washington's interest section in the embassy of Switzerland in Tehran.
In 2011, Iran managed to capture an intact US RQ-170 "Sentinel" stealth drone on a spying mission 140 miles inside Iran.
Iranian officials said the spy craft was proof of enduring US hostility toward Iran.
Even Iranian lawmakers warned that the country would target all US military bases around the world," in case of further violations.
Following the scandal, Dennis Kucinich, the former US Democrat Representative from Ohio, serving from 1997 to 2013, criticized the failed spying mission.
Following shooting down RQ-4 spy drone, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araqchi protested the US violation in a phone call with the Swiss envoy on Tursday.
"There are irrefutable evidence about the presence of this drone in Iran's airspace and even some parts of its wreckage have been retrieved from Iranian territorial waters," Araqchi said.
He called on Washington to respect the Islamic Republic's aerial and maritime borders, warning the Swiss envoy that "Iran will always act firmly in defending its soil and water without any hesitation." 213/205
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