Two US spy planes have flown within a mile of Iranian airspace, and have received warnings of a potential shootdown should they breach it. US military officials said Iran behaved “unprofessionally” and “unsafe[ly]” during the stunt designed to “test” its reaction.
As confrontations between the two nations increase in the region, with Tehran allegedly threatening to shoot down US spy planes in the vicinity of its borders, the US navy also voiced the need to establish the rules of behavior between Iran and the US to avoid armed conflict.
A number of anonymous defense officials told Fox and CNN news that over the weekend the Iranian military warned the nine-member crew of the Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft and a 24 member crew of EP-3 Aries not to enter Iranian airspace or they would run the risk getting shot down.
According to officials the September 10 warning was issued as both planes flew on a reconnaissance mission 13 miles off the coast of Iran, in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman. That is just one mile short of the 12 nautical miles that belong to Iran’s territorial waters. – READ MORE