Head of Islamic republic’s air defense corps says American fighter planes retreated after his forces threatened them
The commander of Iran’s air defense forces said US forces in the Persian Gulf scrambled jets over an Iranian Island after Revolutionary Guards captured American sailors there earlier this month, but retreated when they were threatened with a forceful response.
“When the US forces were captured by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps on Farsi island, the US fighters rushed to fly over (the island),” Farzad Esmaili said, according to the Fars new agency.
“But we warned them that if they approached Iran, we would bring them the hell fire (and they left the region),” he added.
Last Saturday a top Iranian general boasted that the sailors briefly held by the Islamic republic were “crying” as they were taken in by his nation’s naval forces.
Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said “the marines were crying when they were being captured, but they later felt better after the IRGC forces treated them with kindness.”
Tehran released the 10 sailors on January 13, a day after it seized their two small ships when they drifted into Iranian-controlled waters. The incident set off a flurry of phone calls between Kerry and Zarif to secure the servicemen’s release.
“The Americans humbly admitted our might and power, and we freed the marines after being assured that they had entered the Iranian waters unintentionally and we even returned their weapons,” Salami also said.
Iran has repeatedly claimed the US apologized for the incident, though Washington has denied such claims.
Last Wednesday the IRGC’s naval commander said his forces had their missiles locked on a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf as the incident unfolded, and were awaiting orders to fire.
General Ali Fadavi scoffed at the “unprofessional behavior” of the US fleet during the crisis, warned that Iran could have inflicted an unprecedented “catastrophe” upon the US forces, and bragged that the US would never prevail in a confrontation with Iran in the Gulf.
As reported by The Times of Israel