An Iranian member of parliament criticized former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney, who said President Obama should have ordered an airstrike into Iran to destroy the drone and deny Iranians access to its technology. "The Islamic Republic of Iran… can give a crushing response and cut off hands of anyone who wants to violate its air, navy and land borders," Kazem Jalali told ISNA, Iran's state media agency.
Jalali also criticized Obama for asking for the return of the drone after sending it to spy on Iran. "This is an astonishing remark by Obama, who has studied law," he said.
Cheney said the Iranians will likely "send (the drone) back in pieces after they've gotten all the intelligence they can out of it."
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he did not believe Iran would agree to the U.S. request but told Fox News that the stealth drone campaign along the Iran-Afghan border would "absolutely" continue. "Our request for return of the drone is an appropriate request," Panetta said. "I don't expect that will happen, but I think it's important to make that request."
Iran TV reported Wednesday that Iranian experts were still recovering data from the Sentinel, which has been used in stealth missions such as the surveillance operation on the Pakistan compound of Osama bin Laden before he was killed in a U.S. raid in May. Another U.S. drone aircraft, the MQ-9, crashed Tuesday at the Seychelles International Airport on the island of Mahe after developing engine problems, the Associated Press reported.
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