Iran says foreign planes violated its airspace

Iran says that unidentified foreign planes violated its air space six times as the country kicked off an air defense drill, but that they were intercepted and forced back by Iranian jets.

Iran says that unidentified foreign planes violated its air space six times as the country kicked off an air defense drill, but that they were intercepted and forced back by Iranian jets.

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The remarks by Gen. Hamid Arjangi, a spokesman for the exercise, are the first Iranian claim of an intrusion. His comments were carried Wednesday by the semi-official Fars news agency. Initially, he had only said that foreign planes had approached Iran's air space.

Arjangi says Iran's radar stations and observation posts reported six cases of foreign planes entering the air space during the exercise.

The five-day drill, which started Tuesday, is meant to showcase Iranian capabilities in defending its nuclear facilities from possible attack.