The U.S. Central Command said an Iranian drone ignored de-escalatory instructions as it flew toward the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
A U.S. fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone as it approached a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea on Feb. 3, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced.
The incident comes at a moment of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran. President Donald Trump recently ordered naval forces to the Middle East, and has threatened military strikes on Iran if it doesn’t agree to new limits on its nuclear development.
CENTCOM, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, said the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was operating about 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast on Tuesday, when U.S. forces spotted what they identified as an Iranian Shahed-139 drone.
In an emailed press statement, CENTCOM said the Iranian drone “unnecessarily maneuvered toward” the aircraft carrier.
CENTCOM said U.S. forces issued de-escalatory instructions, but the drone continued on its path toward the aircraft carrier. That’s when an F-35C Lighting II stealth fighter jet assigned to the aircraft carrier intervened and shot down the drone.
“No American service members were harmed during the incident, and no U.S. equipment was damaged,” CENTCOM said of the incident.
CENTCOM reported a separate incident hours later, in which two Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached a U.S.-flagged and U.S.-crewed merchant vessel known as the M/V Stena Imperative. The merchant vessel was operating near the Strait of Hormuz at the time.
The IRGC boats allegedly threatened to board the U.S. merchant vessel, but the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul arrived on the scene. The U.S. Air Force also intervened to provide defensive air support.
According to CENTCOM, this second incident de-escalated after the U.S. warship and aircraft intervened.
Last week, CENTCOM issued a direct warning for Iranian forces to avoid provocative behavior near U.S. forces, regional partners, or commercial vessels.103Share this article
By Ryan Morgan
