US fighter jet shoots down Iranian drone approaching aircraft carrier
The Iranian Shahed-139 was flying towards the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea ‘with unclear intent’, a US official says
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 on Tuesday, threatening to 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 towards it “despite de-escalatory measures taken by US forces operating in international waters,” Central Command spokesman Captain 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.
The developments could escalate the heightened tensions between the long-time 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 programme.
Trump’s Republican administration has built up military forces in the region, sending the aircraft carrier, guided-missile destroyers, air defence assets and more to supplement its presence.