A senior Iranian cleric says the development of the Iranian version of a US-made drone has dealt a major blow to the prestige of the United States.The manufacture of Iranian drone based on the US RQ-170 spying drone, which was captured by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force, constituted a major blow to the [prestige] of the United States, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahhedi Kermani told Friday Prayers worshipers in the Iranian capital.
The comments came after Irans military on Wednesday released the footage of the Iranian version of RQ-170, which was brought down in December 2011 and later reverse-engineered by Iranian experts.
The domestically produced version of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made a successful maiden flight a few days ago.
At the time when the American drone was captured, US military officials tried to play the incident down, saying Iran did not have the technology to decipher the data stored on the UAV. However, the aircraft was successfully reverse-engineered by IRGC experts in about two years.
Ayatollah Kermani also praised the successful inaugural flight of the Iranian drone, saying Iran will launch mass production of the aircraft next year.
Elsewhere in his speech, he said the military and nuclear facilities of Israel are within the reach of Iranian missiles.
He warned that Iran would destroy the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa should the Zionist regime launch a military attack against the Islamic Republic.
By Press TV
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