The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on Tuesday launched one of its F-35C fighters to shoot down an unmanned Iranian aircraft that “aggressively approached” with “unclear intent.”
“USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) was transiting the Arabian Sea approximately 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast when an Iranian Shahed-139 drone unnecessarily maneuvered toward the ship,” said U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins.
The Shahed-139 is a cheap, mass-produced Iranian drone capable of medium altitude, long-endurance (MALE) flight that somewhat resembles the fabled U.S. Predator drone. Iranian state media has always depicted the Shahed-139 as a surveillance drone, but it is an evolution of the Shahed-129 model that was capable of carrying missiles.
“The Iranian drone continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters,” Hawkins said. “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.”
CENTCOM said there was no damage to U.S. equipment, or injuries to American personnel, during the incident.
“During a separate incident hours later in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces harassed a U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed merchant vessel lawfully transiting the international sea passage,” Hawkins continued at his briefing.
“Two IRGC boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached M/V Stena Imperative at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker,” he said.
“Guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74) was operating in the area and immediately responded to the scene to escort M/V Stena Imperative with defensive air support from the U.S. Air Force,” he said.
“The situation de-escalated as a result, and the U.S.-flagged tanker is proceeding safely,” he concluded.
USS Abraham Lincoln is a massive ship, a thousand feet long and weighing over 100,000 metric tons with a crew of over 5,630 sailors and capacity for up to 90 aircraft.
The Lincoln and its strike group were dispatched to the Arabian Sea by President Donald Trump in January during Iran’s bloody crackdown on protesters. Trump described the carrier strike group as an “armada” and said it was “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday afternoon that CENTCOM “did make the decision to shoot down that Iranian drone” because it was “acting aggressively towards our USS Lincoln.”
Leavitt said the president “remains committed to always pursuing diplomacy first — but in order for diplomacy to work, of course, it takes two to tango.”
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is currently in Jerusalem for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to discuss the situation with Iran.
Witkoff is scheduled to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday to discuss a potential deal on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. According to Iranian state media, President Masoud Pezeshkian authorized such talks on Monday.
Leavitt said on Tuesday afternoon that Witkoff’s trip to Istanbul remains on schedule, despite the drone incident. However, Iranian officials reportedly threatened to withdraw from the talks on Tuesday, and they have demanded a change of venue to Oman.
