US Navy downs Iranian drone approaching aircraft carrier in Arabian Sea

A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone that approached the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, roughly 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast, U.S. Central Command stated on Tuesday.

The unmanned aircraft “aggressively approached a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with unclear intent” and ignored multiple attempts by U.S. forces to de-escalate the encounter while operating in international waters, according to CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins.

A Navy F-35C fighter jet, launched from the aircraft carrier, destroyed the drone. No U.S. personnel were injured, and no American equipment was damaged, the military said.

CENTCOM also reported a separate incident that occurred hours later in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian naval forces harassed the M/V Stena Imperative, a U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed merchant ship lawfully transiting the strait.

Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone confronted the commercial vessel at “high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker,” Hawkins wrote.

The vessel continued safely and reported no damage or injuries.

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