Tensions between the US and Iran just ratcheted up a notch. An American fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that the Pentagon says "aggressively" approached a US aircraft carrier with "unclear intent," reports Reuters. The incident happened Tuesday in the Arabian Sea, and the vessel involved was the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. No US servicemembers were injured, and no US equipment was damaged, per the AP.
"An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board," said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson at Central Command. Iran has not commented on the incident. Reuters notes that the Lincoln carrier is the biggest part of a US military buildup in the region following the Iranian government's violent crackdown on protesters. The encounter unfolded as US and Iranian officials are trying to set up negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. President Trump has warned that with additional American warships moving into the region, "bad things" are likely if talks fail.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, Hawkins said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used two small boats and a drone to approach the US-flagged merchant vessel Stena Imperative at high speed in the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to board and seize the vessel. The destroyer USS McFaul responded to the scene and escorted the Stena Imperative "with defensive air support from the US Air Force," said Hawkins, adding that the ship was now sailing safely.
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