A top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday praised Iran's recent downing of a US drone and the seizing of a British-flagged tanker as turning points in "Muslims' struggle," the semi-official news agency Fars said.
"Islamic countries... are today stronger than before as shown by the seizure of the British oil tanker or the downing of the US drone which violated Iran's territory -- which are milestones in the history of Muslims' struggle," said Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei's foreign policy adviser, according to Fars.
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Also on Tuesday, the commander of Iran's navy, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, declared that Iran was keeping close tabs on American vessels in the Persian Gulf and had an archive of images of their maritime movements.
The Young Journalists Club reported Khanzadi saying, "We observe all enemy ships, particularly [those of] America, point-by-point from their origin until the moment they enter the region" and that the images were recorded using Iranian drones.
"We have complete images and a large archive of the daily and moment-by-moment traffic of the coalition forces and America," Khanzadi said.
