President Barack Obama says the United States has asked Iran to return a U.S. drone that Tehran said it brought down while overflying its territory.
"With respect to the drone inside of Iran, I am not going to comment on intelligence matters that are classified," Obama said at a news conference in Washington alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. "As has already been indicated, we have asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond."
In remarks broadcast on December 11, a senior commander from Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, General Hossein Salami, said his country would not return the surveillance aircraft.
Iranian television on December 8 broadcast footage of Iranian military officials inspecting what they identified as a RQ-170 Sentinel drone, which they said was detected in Iranian airspace some 225 kilometers from the border with Afghanistan.
compiled from agency reports
"With respect to the drone inside of Iran, I am not going to comment on intelligence matters that are classified," Obama said at a news conference in Washington alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. "As has already been indicated, we have asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond."
In remarks broadcast on December 11, a senior commander from Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, General Hossein Salami, said his country would not return the surveillance aircraft.
Iranian television on December 8 broadcast footage of Iranian military officials inspecting what they identified as a RQ-170 Sentinel drone, which they said was detected in Iranian airspace some 225 kilometers from the border with Afghanistan.
compiled from agency reports
