[caption id="attachment_32295" align="alignright" width="206"] Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, the commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base[/caption]
TEHRAN (Tasnim) Irans Air Defense Commander said several foreign spy aircraft were detected and given warning on Thursday.
Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili told the Tasnim News Agency that several intruding aircraft belonging to ultra-regional countries were identified and received warning during the first day of the Armys large-scale wargame.
The Iranian Armys maneuver began today with the participation of units from the Armys Ground Force, Air Force, Navy, and Air Defense.
It will continue for a week (until December 31) in a large area of 2.2 million square kilometers, stretching from the northern Indian Ocean (10 degrees latitude) to the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and in the southern Iranian provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan and Hormozgan.
General Esmaili said the countrys Air Defense has full control over the area where Muhammad Rasullullah (Muhammad, the messenger of God) military exercises are being carried out and that it conducts real time surveillance of the areas airspace.
He underlined that the Air Defense does everything necessary to foil spy aircrafts espionage missions.
The senior commander also noted that Irans indigenously-made radars detected a number of U-2 spy planes a few days ago, adding that they made an apology and left the area after being given timely warnings by the Iranian air defense forces.