The US Nay has shot down an Iranian drone after it began "aggressively" hurtling towards an aircraft carrier stationed in the Middle East, the American military has confirmed.
According to a US military spokesman, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was rapidly approaching the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea before a F35 stealth warplane shot it out the sky.
In a statement, Central Command spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said: “An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defence and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board.
The Iranian UAV was a Shahed-139, which has the capability of carrying an explosive warhead.
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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was shot down by the US Navy “to protect our US Personnel and equipment in the region”.
She added: “[Central Command] make the decision to shoot down that Iranian drone... It was unmanned, it was acting aggressively towards our USS Lincoln."
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran after President Donald Trump sent a "massive armada" of American ships to the Middle East in response to the Islamic Republic's deadly crackdown on protests.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and multiple guided-missile destroyers have been stationed in the Arabian Gulf, with Mr Trump declaring that the US was "watching them very closely".
An Iranian UAV was rapidly approaching the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea before being shot down
| US NAVYSupreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cautioned that any attack from the US would spark a regional war.
In response, the President said: "Of course, he could say that. We have the biggest, most powerful ships in the world over there, very close, a couple of days.
"Hopefully, we'll make a deal. If we don't make a deal, we'll find out whether or not he was right."
The shooting down of the Iranian drone occurred on the same day as a US-flagged ship was challenged by six Islamic Republic gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz.
The armed vessels approached the Danish-owned but US-flagged ship before ordering it to stop in its tracks and wait to be boarded, according to British maritime security group Vanguard Tech.
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The Islamic State's drone was taken out by a F-35C fighter jet
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The ship, which was situated in international waters off the coast of Oman at the time, ignored the order and accelerated away.
The Danish-owned tanker received an escort from the USS McFaul and the US Air Force, and is said to be “proceeding safely”, according to Captain Hawkins.
The six armed vessels were controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), the Iranian regime's top ideological military body.
Last week, the EU moved to designate the force as a terror group over its violent crackdown on anti-government protests.
Britain could soon follow Brussels' lead, with the Home Office confirming that work was under way on a bill aimed at proscribing hostile state agencies such as the IRGC.
The six armed vessels were controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp
| GETTYTehran's so-called "terror army" has been linked to at least 20 credible threats to either kidnap or kill people in Britain since 2022.
Iranian officials rejected claims of a security incident in the Strait of Hormuz, disputing the report by Vanguard Tech and insisting the situation was quickly resolved.
Speaking to the Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, authorities said surveillance units detected a vessel entering Iranian territorial waters on Tuesday afternoon without permission and immediately challenged it.
The Islamic Republic officials said: “The ship lacked any legal authorisation to be present in these waters.
"Therefore, it was warned, and the ship immediately left Iranian waters after receiving the warning.”
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