A US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching an American aircraft carrier early Tuesday morning, said US Central Command.
The Shahed-139 drone was shot down by an F-35C fighter jet from the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was sailing about 805 kilometres from Iran’s southern coast, Central Command spokesman, Captain Tim Hawkins, said.
The drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier, just before sunrise, with “unclear intent” and it “continued to fly toward the ship despite deescalatory measures taken by US forces operating in international waters”, the Central Command further added.
The Iranian Mission to the UN did not immediately comment on the incident, but in a separate incident later on Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces allegedly harassed a merchant vessel flying the American flag and carrying an American crew, Hawkins said in a statement.
Two boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached the ship, Stena Imperative, “at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker”, Hawkins’ statement said. The position of the incident appeared to be in Iranian territorial waters, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre.
Iran had warned of a naval drill by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days.
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The destroyer USS McFaul responded and escorted the Stena Imperative with defensive air support, the statement said, adding that the merchant vessel was now sailing safely.
Iran's president President Masoud Pezeshkia said on Tuesday that he instructed the country's foreign minister to "pursue fair and equitable negotiations" with the United States.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged that Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff has been planning to hold talks with Iranian officials in Turkey later this week. It was the first direct acknowledgment of the talks by the White House.
"These talks, as of right now, are still scheduled," Leavitt said in response to whether the drone incident could impact Witkoff's planned talks with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. "President Trump is always wanting to pursue diplomacy first, but obviously it takes two to tango," Leavitt said. "You need a willing partner to achieve diplomacy and that's something that special envoy Witkoff is intent on exploring and discussing."
Turkey had been working behind the scenes to make the talks happen there later this week as US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is travelling in the region. A Turkish official later said the location of talks was uncertain but that Turkey was ready to support the process.
Foreign ministers from Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also been invited to attend the talks, if they happen, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity as they did not have permission to speak to journalists.
Late Monday, the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen, which is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, aired an interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top Khamenei adviser on security.
He suggested that if the talks happened, they would be indirect at the beginning, and move to direct talks only if a deal appeared to be attainable. Direct talks with the US long have been a highly charged political issue within Iran's theocracy, with reformists like Pezeshkian pushing for them and hard-liners dismissing them.
The talks would solely focus on nuclear issues, he added.
"Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, will not seek a nuclear weapon and will never stockpile nuclear weapons, but the other side must pay a price in return for this," he said.
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