Iran: 'Any Mistake...By America And Regional Allies, Like Firing At A Powder Keg That Will Burn America..And Allies To The Ground'

Iran says it will confront any U.S. threat as tension spikes

By Parisa Hafezi and Lisa Barrington

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday it would respond firmly to any U.S. threat, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, amid escalating tension between Tehran and Washington over the shooting down of an unmanned U.S. drone by the Islamic Republic. 

On Thursday, an Iranian missile destroyed a U.S. Global Hawk surveillance drone. Tehran repeated on Saturday that the drone was shot down over its territory. Washington said the incident had occurred in international airspace. 

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he aborted a military strike to retaliate because it could have killed 150 people, and signaled he was open to talks with Tehran.

"Regardless of any decision they (U.S. officials) make ... we will not allow any of Iran's borders to be violated. Iran will firmly confront any aggression or threat by America," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told Tasnim.

Worries about a confrontation between Iran and the United States have mounted despite Trump saying that he has no appetite to go to war with Iran. Tehran has also said it is not seeking a war but has warned of a "crushing" response if attacked. 

"Any mistake by Iran's enemies, in particular America and its regional allies, would be like firing at a powder keg that will burn America, its interests and its allies to the ground," the senior spokesman of Iran's Armed Forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, told Tasnim on Saturday. 

A senior commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards struck a similarly defiant note, in comments quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

"This is our response to a violation of Iranian space and if the violation is repeated then our response will be repeated," said Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards' aerospace division.

"It's possible that this infringement of the Americans was carried out by a general or some operators."

Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned a diplomatic representative of the United Arab Emirates on Saturday because the UAE allowed the drone that was shot down to be launched from a U.S. military base on its territory, the Fars news agency reported.

"Confrontation, whatever we think about Trump or Iran, will be disastrous for everyone," the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday issued an emergency order prohibiting U.S. operators from flying in an oversea area of Tehran-controlled airspace over the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman. Some other international airlines are taking related precautions.