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A US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone approaching the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, US Central Command said on Tuesday, threatening to heighten tensions as the Trump administration warns of possible military action to bring Iran to the negotiating table.
The drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and continued to fly toward it “despite de-escalation measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters,” Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement.
The downing occurred hours after Iranian forces harassed a US-flagged and US-manned merchant ship sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, the US military said.
The events could escalate heightened tensions between the longtime adversaries as US President Donald Trump has threatened to use military action first over Iran’s bloody crackdown on protests across the country and then to try to force the country into a deal over its nuclear program.
Trump’s Republican administration has built up military forces in the region, sending an aircraft carrier, guided-missile destroyers, air defense assets and more to supplement its presence.
The Shahed-139 drone shot down the F-35C fighter jet from Lincoln, which was sailing about 800 kilometers from Iran’s southern coast, Hawkins said. No US soldiers were injured, and no US equipment was damaged, according to a military statement.
Iran’s mission to the UN did not immediately comment on the incident to The Associated Press. Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that it had lost contact with the drone in international waters, but the reason was unknown.
Talk to continue with Witkoff
Talks between Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian officials are still planned, White House Secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters.
“President Trump always wants to pursue diplomacy first, but obviously it takes two to tango,” Leavitt said. “As always, of course, the president has a number of options on the table regarding Iran.”
Hours before the drone was shot down, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced on Telegram that he had spoken with his counterparts in Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey and Oman about regional developments and the importance of protecting “regional stability and security.”
After the downing, Iranian Revolutionary Guard paramilitary forces harassed the merchant ship 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 ship was now safely afloat.
Rising tensions
Tensions have risen again between the US and Iran as Tehran has spent weeks quelling protests that began in late December against growing economic instability before escalating into a challenge to the country’s ruling theocracy.
As the US moves more warships into range of Iran, the country’s supreme leader says an attack would start a ‘regional war’ – but President Donald Trump is sticking to his list of demands. (Correction: This video has been edited to remove images from funerals of Iranian regime figures that were mistakenly included in this report.)
In early January, Trump promised to “rescue” Iranians from their government’s crackdown on protests before resuming pressure on Tehran to strike a deal on its nuclear program. This is even as the Republican president insists that Iran’s nuclear sites have been “wiped out” in the American strikes in June.
“Talks are underway with Iran. We’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters on Monday. Asked what his threshold was for military action against Iran, he declined to elaborate.
“I’d like to see a deal on a deal,” Trump said. “Right now we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that would be great. And if we can’t, bad things would probably happen.”
Iranian president said Tuesday that he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “continue fair and equal negotiations” with the US, marking one of the first clear signs from Tehran that it wants to try to negotiate with Washington despite the breakdown of talks last summer.
Turkey has been working behind the scenes to get talks there later this week as Witkoff travels through the region. A Turkish official later said the location of the talks was uncertain, but that Turkey was ready to support the process.
strengthening the US military
Meanwhile, the US military has been moving an increasing number of assets to the region over the past few weeks, including the Lincoln and several destroyers that arrived last week.
The carrier strike group, which brought approximately 5,700 additional personnel, joined three destroyers and three battleships already in the region.
Analysts of flight tracking data also spotted dozens of US military cargo planes heading towards the region.
The activity is similar to last year when the US moved air defense equipment, such as the Patriot missile system, in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack after the US bombed three key nuclear sites. Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar a few days after the attack.
The US has several bases in the Middle East, including Al Udeid, which houses thousands of US troops and is the forward headquarters of US Central Command.
