The US military yesterday shot down an Iranian drone that ‘aggressively’ approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, the US military said.
The incident came as diplomats sought to arrange nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, and US President Donald Trump warned that with US warships heading towards Iran, ‘bad things’ would probably happen if a deal could not be reached.
The White House however said the planned talks would go ahead.
The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying towards the carrier ‘with unclear intent’ and was shot down by an F-35 fighter jet, the US military said.
“An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defence and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board,” said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson at the US military’s Central Command.
Iran’s UN mission declined to comment.
The Lincoln carrier strike group is the most visible part of a US military buildup in the Middle East following a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month, the deadliest domestic unrest in Iran since its 1979 revolution.
Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene during the crackdown, has since demanded Tehran make nuclear concessions and sent a flotilla to its coast. He said last week Iran was ‘seriously talking’, while Tehran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said arrangements for negotiations were underway.
In a separate incident in the Strait of Hormuz, just hours after the drone shootdown, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces harassed a US-flagged, US-crewed merchant vessel, according to the US military.
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