BY ABC NEWS
Tehran, TAG – The Iranian government, which captured a
U.S. stealth drone in December, has agreed to give the top-secret spy craft back, but with a
catch.
Instead
of the original RQ-170 Sentinel drone, the Islamic Republic said Wednesday that
it will send President Obama a tiny toy replica of the plane.
Iranian
state radio said that the toy model will be 1/80th the size of the real thing.
Iranian citizens can also buy their own toy copies of the drone,
which will be available in stores for the equivalent of $4.
"We
plan to send a full squadron of 12 to the White House for President Obama as a
present," said Reza Kioumarsi, a spokesman for the Aaye Art Group, a
Tehran-based non-profit, non-governmental company that makes novelty items.
The
company is trying to determine what Obama's favorite color is before sending
the drones, which are 1/80th the size of the real drone, Kioumarsi said.
This
is probably not the response Obama was seeking.
The
White House formally requested return of the drone after the Iranians displayed
it on state television. The U.S. says that the craft was operating over Eastern
Afghanistan.
The
Iranians claim they detected the drone well inside Iran's border and then took
control of the craft electronically and brought it down safely.
The
U.S. has denied that the craft came down for any reason other than technical
malfunction.
On
Dec. 11, after President Obama said he had requested the return of the drone,
an Iranian general said that it was not going to happen. The general also
warned on Iranian television of a "bigger response" to the
"hostile act" of crossing into Iranian airspace.
"No
one returns the symbol of aggression to the party that sought secret and vital
intelligence related to the national security of a country," Iranian
Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC] Lt. Commander Gen. Hossein Salami said,
according to Iran's Fars News Agency.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that
"given Iran's behavior to date, we do not expect them to comply" with
Obama's request. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also said he didn't expect Iran
to hand over the drone, but told reporters, "I think it's important to
make that request."
President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a speech in December that seemed to suggest that Iran
wouldn't return it.
"The
North Americans at best have decided to give us this spy plane,"
Ahmadinejad said.
The RQ-170 Sentinel
is one of the United States' most sophisticated drones and flies at up to
50,000 feet. It is designed to evade sophisticated air defenses.[]
Related articles:
Iran Mocks US with Toy Drone
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