The US military shot down an Iranian drone in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, according to US Central Command, as the US is building up its forces in the region to prepare for a potential attack on Iran
Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for CENTCOM, claimed the drone was “aggressively approaching” the aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which he said was operating about 500 miles south of Iran’s coast at the time. He said that an F-35 fighter jet from the Abraham Lincoln took down the drone.
“No American service members were harmed during the incident, and no US equipment was damaged,” Hawkins said, according to CNN.
The US military also claimed that later in the day, two Iranian naval vessels approached and “harassed” a US-flagged chemical tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Hawkins said Iranians threatened to board the tanker and that it was then escorted by a US Navy destroyer, and the situation de-escalated.
The incidents near Iran come as President Trump has been threatening to bomb Iran for weeks. The president has been shifting the pretext for a potential attack on the country, threatening it over its ballistic missile program, protests in the country, and warning that he will attack if some sort of nuclear deal isn’t reached.
“We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones, the biggest and the best, and we have talks going on with Iran. We’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “But right now, we’re talking to them. We’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things will happen.”
Iranian officials have said they’re open to a nuclear deal, but the US is also demanding limits on Iran’s missile program, which is a non-starter for Tehran. According to media reports, US and Iranian officials may meet in Istanbul on Friday, though the potential talks remain unconfirmed.
