A US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, US Central Command said Tuesday, in an incident that threatens to further ramp up tensions as the Trump administration warns of possible military action to get Iran to the negotiating table.
The drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and kept flying toward it “despite deescalatory measures taken by US forces operating in international waters,” Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement.
The shootdown occurred within hours of Iranian forces harassing a US-flagged and US-crewed merchant vessel that was sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, the American military said, and also came as Iran reportedly pushed to change the location and format of negotiations set to be held in Turkey on Friday.
The developments could escalate the heightened tensions between the longtime adversaries as President Donald Trump has threatened to use military action first over Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests and then to try to get the country to make a deal over its nuclear program, ballistic missiles and support for proxy groups. Trump’s Republican administration has built up military forces in the region, sending the aircraft carrier, guided-missile destroyers, air defense assets and more to supplement its presence.
The Shahed-139 drone was shot down by an F-35C fighter jet from the Lincoln, which was sailing about 500 miles (800 kilometers) from Iran’s southern coast, Hawkins said. No American troops were harmed, and no US equipment was damaged, the military’s statement noted.
Iranian state media reported that Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is investigating the “interruption” of the drone. Semi-official Tasnim news agency posted on its Telegram that before the footage cut out, the drone was able to successfully transfer the images it took back to Iran.
US says Iran also harassed a merchant vessel
After the shootdown, Revolutionary Guard forces harassed the merchant vessel Stena Imperative, the US military said. Two boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached the ship “at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker,” Hawkins’ statement said.
The destroyer USS McFaul responded and escorted the Stena Imperative “with defensive air support from the US Air Force,” the statement said, adding that the merchant vessel was now sailing safely.
Talks between special envoy Steve Witkoff — who met Tuesday in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and Iranian officials are still planned, White House and Iranian officials said. A source familiar with the situation said earlier that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is also due to take part in the talks, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi expected to head Tehran’s negotiating team.
Ahead of his expected meeting with Iranian officials later this week, Witkoff met with Netanyahu, who according to his office emphasized to Trump’s special envoy that “Iran has repeatedly proven it cannot be trusted to keep its promises.”
Netanyahu was joined for the meeting by the heads of Israel’s security services, the Prime Minister’s Office told The Times of Israel. Two Israeli officials confirmed the meeting was attended by Israel’s spy agency head David Barnea, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and IDF commander Eyal Zamir.
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