An F/A-18F Super Hornet prepares to launch from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 28. The Navy shot down an Iranian drone flying toward the Abraham Lincoln Tuesday. Photo by Spec. Seaman Zoe Simpson/U.S. Navy
Feb. 3 (UPI) — The U.S. Navy shot down an Iranian drone that flew toward an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said.
The Pentagon said the Shahed-139 drone “aggressively” approached the USS Abraham Lincoln while it was moving through the Arabian Sea about 500 miles from the southern coast of Iran and “unnecessarily maneuvered” toward the ship.
The drone continued to fly toward the ship “despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, Central Command spokesperson.
An F-35 fighter jet shot down the drone, and no American service members or equipment were harmed, Hawkins said in a statement.
The incident is the first in the latest ramp-up of tensions between Washington and Tehran, since President Donald Trump sent an “armada” of ships to waters near Iran. The carrier and a group of destroyers arrived last week.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Istanbul on Friday.
Last week, Trump spelled out his terms to Iran if it wants to avoid being struck by U.S. ships standing by. Trump told reporters that he’d been in contact with Iranian leadership and told them they needed to do two things: “Number one, no nuclear. And number two, stop killing protesters.”
