Iran demands U.S. apology for drone flight

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-wants-us-apology-over-drone/2011/12/13/gIQAsWCzrO_story.html

Iranian officials on Tuesday demanded an apology from the Obama administration before they would even consider any U.S. request to return a surveillance drone that Iran captured this month.

“President Obama should not forget that the Iranian airspace was clearly violated by the U.S. drone, and therefore the U.S. should first apologize for that,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters Tuesday.

Iran has said that it used an “electronic ambush” to gain control of the top-secret RQ-170 Sentinel drone and land it with minimal damage about 140 miles inside Iran. The capture was announced Dec. 4, and the Pentagon has acknowledged that a U.S. drone was lost the preceding week.