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Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - DUBAI — The US military on Tuesday shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone that "aggressively" approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea hours before two gunboats operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps approached a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to board and seize the ship.
The two incidents occurred days before US and Iranian officials are due to meet Friday for diplomatic negotiations meant to avert a military clash. US President Donald Trump warned that with US warships heading toward Iran, "bad things" would probably happen if a deal could not be reached.
"An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board," said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson at the US military's Central Command.
The US carrier was transiting the Arabian Sea about 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesman.
“The Iranian drone continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by US forces operating in international waters,” Hawkins said.
“No American service members were harmed during the incident, and no US equipment was damaged,” Hawkins said.
Iran's Tasnim news agency said connection had been lost with an IRGC drone while it was on a “reconnaissance, surveillance and filming” mission over international waters of the Arabian Sea.
The drone had “successfully transmitted its surveillance and reconnaissance footage” to its operators at the IRGC command center before it was lost, the agency quoted an informed Iranian source as saying. “The reason for this loss of contact is being investigated, and details will be announced once it is confirmed.”
Hours after the drone encounter, two Iranian gunboats approached the M/V Stena Imperative — a chemical tanker operated by Americans flying under the US flag in the Strait of Hormuz — passing the ship three times at high speeds as an Iranian Mohajer drone also flew overhead, said Hawkins. During one of their passes, the Iranians threatened via radio call that they would board and seize the tanker. The tanker was in international waters, Hawkins said.
US military forces operating in the area responded when they learned of the Iranian threats. The USS McFaul destroyer escorted the tanker away from the area along with defensive air support from the US Air Force, Hawkins added. The situation de-escalated as a result.
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Hawkins said the Iranian behavior was an example of the Iranians’ “unprofessionalism and aggressive behavior” that increases the risk of miscalculation for vessels operating in the area and said their “harassment” in international waters won’t be tolerated by the US.
The incidents come as President Donald Trump has been weighing a major strike on Iran amid discussions about limiting that nation’s nuclear program and ballistic missile production.
Talks between the US and Iran planned for later this week hit a snag Tuesday after Tehran requested they be relocated, that regional participants be excluded, and that the discussions’ scope be limited to the country’s nuclear program, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that the meetings, led on the US side by special envoy Steve Witkoff, are “still scheduled as of right now, but of course the president has always a range of options on the table, and that includes the use of military force.”
The new demands by Iran could complicate efforts by Middle Eastern allies of the United States to broker a diplomatic solution to sky-high regional tensions.
The talks had been set for Istanbul, with foreign ministers from Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also expected to attend.
Tehran is now asking for an alternate location: Oman, whih previously hosted talks between the US and Iran.
And it has requested the scope of the discussions be limited to the nuclear issue. The US has said its demands for Iran extend beyond an end to its nuclear program to curbing its ballistic missiles and ending support for regional proxy groups.
What the changes, first reported by Axios, portend for the diplomatic efforts wasn’t immediately clear. Already, some American officials had privately warned that Iran may be using diplomacy to play for time in preventing military action.
The two key US participants in the discussions — Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — arrived in the region on Tuesday for talks with Israeli officials.
Trump said Monday that talks were ongoing but continued to point to the large militarybuildup in the region as evidence of his willingness to order strikes. — Agencies
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