The Iranian Defence Minister has confirmed that shots were fired at  US military drone last week, which they claimed had invaded their airspace.

The confirmation of the incident comes within 24 hours of the Pentagon revealing it to the public, even though the attack happened on the 1st of November, just days before the US Presidential election.

Brig Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s Defence Minister said,

"Last week an unidentified aircraft entered the airspace over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, which was forced to flee due to the prompt, smart and decisive action of the Islamic Republic of Iran's armed forces,"

Deputy commander of Iran’s armed forces, Massoud Jazayeri elaborated that,

“Defenders of the Islamic republic of Iran will give a decisive response to any air, land and naval attacks… If any foreign flying objects enter our country’s airspace, the armed forces will confront them.”

The Pentagon revealed that two jets from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had fired at the Predator drone which they saw was on a "classified surveillance mission".

The late revelation, made after Barack Obama was re-elected as the US president drew a stern reaction from the Republican party with Senator John McCain saying,

"It was inappropriate for the president to wait seven days—until after the election—before making this serious national-security incident public, just as it is totally unacceptable that this administration still has not answered our repeated and numerous inquiries about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, which occurred two months ago,"

Meanwhile a Western official talking to the Guardian commented,

"It's clear that there are fanatics in Tehran who would welcome a conflict because it would entrench their power… there are people in Tehran who desperately wanted Romney to win [the US election]."