TEHRAN – Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi Fard, an interim Friday prayer preacher, has voiced Iran’s readiness to respond to any foreign aggression on its soil.

Addressing worshippers in Tehran, Aboutorabi Fard hailed the IRGC’s downing of a U.S. spy drone, saying the air defense system’s success showed that the relationship between Iran’s scientific centers and the Defense Ministry should be further strengthened.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) shot down an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone on June 20 after it breached Iran’s airspace. The IRGC brought the drone down by firing a surface-to-air missile at it.

The shooting down of the American drone “showed that Iran’s powerful fingers are ready to pull the trigger against any act of aggression on this territory,” Aboutorabi Fard asserted.

“The incident marks a special situation and promises a definitive victory for the Islamic Republic and the collapse of the enemy,” he added.

Aboutorabi Fard also lauded Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his “clear, firm and wise” stances toward the U.S. president.

MH/PA