US shoots down Iranian drone near aircraft carrier

The US military announced that it shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier “aggressively” in the Arabian Sea.

In a statement made on Tuesday, it was stated that Iran’s Shahed-139 unmanned aerial vehicle flew towards the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and was shot down by an F-35 US warplane.

“An Abraham Lincoln F-35C fighter jet shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and its personnel,” said Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesman for the US military’s Central Command.

He added that no American soldiers were harmed and no US equipment was damaged during the incident.

The incident comes as diplomats are trying to organize nuclear talks between Iran and the US, and US President Donald Trump has warned that “bad things” are likely to happen if a deal is not reached as US warships advance towards Iran.

The Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group is the most visible part of the US military buildup in the Middle East following last month’s violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in Iran, the deadliest civil unrest since the 1979 revolution.

Trump, who has refrained from following through on threats to intervene during the crackdown, has since demanded nuclear concessions from Tehran and sent a fleet to its shores. He said last week that Iran was “talking seriously” while Tehran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said negotiating arrangements were ongoing.

In another incident that occurred hours later in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps harassed a US-flagged, US-crewed commercial ship, the US military’s Central Command said Tuesday.

“Two IRGC boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached the M/V Stena Imperative at high speeds and threatened to board the tanker and seize it,” said Hawkins.