June 27, 2019 - 18:39 AMT
Iran warns U.S. against "repeating mistake" of violating borders

Iran's parliamentary speaker has warned the United States against violating the country's borders, cautioning such a move would draw a "stronger" reaction than the downing of a U.S. drone a week ago, Al Jazeera reports.

In comments carried by Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency on Thursday, Speaker Ali Larijani said the shootdown of the unmanned aerial vehicle was "a good experience for them to avoid any aggression".

"Iran's reaction will be stronger if they repeat their mistake of violating our borders," Larijani said.

Tehran said the Global Hawk surveillance drone was in its territory when it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile on June 20. Washington rebuffed that claim, saying the aircraft was in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz when it was hit.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered retaliatory attacks on Iranian installations over the incident - which marked the first direct Iranian-claimed attack on U.S. assets amid an escalating crisis between the two powers - before calling them off at the last minute.

Trump later said too many people would have died had the attacks gone ahead.

Also on Thursday, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that Trump was mistaken in thinking a war between their countries would not last long.

"'Short war' with Iran is an illusion," Zarif wrote on Twitter a day after Trump said he did not want a war with Iran but warned that if fighting did break out, it "wouldn't last very long".