US Navy Downs Iranian Drone In Tense Arabian Sea Encounter Near Aircraft Carrier
In a sharp escalation of military tensions in the Middle East, the US Navy shot down an Iranian drone that aggressively approached the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, according to US Central Command.
The incident occurred on Tuesday as the carrier transited international waters roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers) from Iran’s southern coast. In a statement provided to news agency AFP, Central Command described how a Shahed-139 drone maneuvered toward the vessel with unclear intent and persisted despite de-escalatory actions by US forces. An F-35C fighter jet launched from the Abraham Lincoln intercepted and destroyed the drone in self-defense, protecting the ship and its crew. No US personnel were injured, and no equipment was damaged.
The shootdown followed closely on the heels of other confrontations in the region that same day. Earlier, Iranian forces harassed a US-flagged, US-crewed merchant vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command reported. Later, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted another commercial ship, the Stena Imperative, sending two high-speed boats and a Mohajer drone that approached rapidly and threatened to board and seize the tanker.
Amid these military flashpoints, diplomatic signals emerged from Tehran. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian stated he had directed his foreign minister to begin talks with the United States, but only in an atmosphere free of threats and unreasonable demands. In a post on X, Pezeshkian framed the decision as a response to appeals from friendly governments, offering the clearest indication yet of Tehran’s readiness for dialogue despite rising strains.
ALSO READ : Iran Signals Optimism for Nuclear Dialogue Revival as US-Iran Tensions Subside
US President Donald Trump, who has revived his “maximum pressure” sanctions approach since returning to office, acknowledged ongoing negotiations with Iran. Speaking to reporters, he expressed hope for a deal while cautioning that failure could lead to “bad things,” according to AP. The US recently deployed an aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East in reaction to Iran’s heavy-handed suppression of widespread anti-government protests last month.
These back-to-back military actions and diplomatic overtures underscore the volatile state of US-Iran relations, where naval incidents and negotiation prospects unfold in rapid succession.