WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Central Command said a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.
U.S. Central Command said in an emailed statement on Tuesday that the drone “aggressively approached” the carrier with “unclear intent” and “continued to fly toward the carrier despite de-escalation measures by U.S. forces operating in international waters.” The U.S. military said the downing occurred within hours of another incident in which Iranian forces harassed a U.S.-flagged commercial ship with an American crew sailing in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Shahed-139 drone was shot down by an F-35C fighter jet aboard the Lincoln, which was sailing about 500 miles (800 kilometers) off Iran’s southern coast, according to U.S. Central Command. A military statement noted that no U.S. troops were injured and no equipment was damaged.
advertise
advertise
Hours later, Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps troops harassed the merchant ship Stena Imperative, the U.S. military said.
According to a statement from the military, two ships and an Iranian Mohajer drone “approached the ship at high speed and threatened to board and seize the tanker.”
