Iran Complains to UN About Illegal US Overflights

Blames US Navy for 'Illegal and Provocative Acts'

The Iranian government has sent letters to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Security Council today complaining about “illegal and provocative acts” carried out by the US Navy along their coast.

The complaint included the US drone overflight earlier this month, which US officials claimed was just barely outside of Iranian airspace and which Iranians say was just barely inside it. The drone was fired on, but not damaged.

The Iranian Ambassador said there were seven other US overflights before the drone incident, all centered on the coastal city of Bushehr (the home of a Russian-built nuclear reactor), and all of which ignored radio warnings.

The US has yet to comment on the letter, but it seems to put the firing on the US drone in a different context if US overflights had happened several times in the month leading up to it. The US rarely comments directly on its drones.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.