The US shot down an Iranian aircraft carrier that it said was ‘violently approaching’
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A US Navy jet shot down an Iranian aircraft carrier that was approaching the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, US Central Command said on Tuesday, threatening to escalate tensions as the Trump administration warned of a possible war to get Iran to the negotiating table.
The plane “forcefully approached” the plane “with an unclear purpose” and continued to fly towards it “despite mitigation measures taken by US forces operating in international waters,” said Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins in a statement.
The shooting came hours after Iranian forces attacked a US-flagged ship and US personnel in the Strait of Hormuz, the US military said.
The development could exacerbate tensions between the long-time adversaries as US President Donald Trump has threatened to use war first over an attack on Iran that has sparked protests across the country and then to try to get the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme.
The Republican Trump administration has built military forces in the region, sending an aircraft carrier, guided missile destroyers, air defense assets and more to augment its presence.
The Shahed-139 drone was shot down by an F-35C fighter jet from Lincoln, which was flying 800 kilometers from Iran’s southern coast, Hawkins said. No American soldiers were injured, and no American equipment was damaged, the military statement said.
Iranian media have reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is investigating the drone “disruption”. The semi-official Tasnim news agency posted on Telegram that before the video was cut off, the drone was able to successfully transmit the footage back to Iran.
Iran’s UN mission did not immediately comment to The Associated Press on the incident.
Talk to continue with Witkoff
After the exchange of fire, the Revolutionary Guard soldiers attacked the merchant ship Stena Imperative, the US military said. Two boats and an Iranian Mohajer aircraft approached the ship “at high speed and threatened to board and seize the ship,” Hawkins’ statement said.
The destroyer USS McFaul responded and escorted the Stena Imperative “with defensive air support from the US Air Force,” the statement said, adding that the merchant vessel was now safely underway.
Talks between special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian officials are still scheduled, White House officials and Iranian officials said.
“President Trump always wants to pursue diplomacy first, but obviously it takes two people,” White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said. “As always, of course, the president has many options on the table regarding Iran.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday he had ordered the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and balanced negotiations” with the US, marking one of the first clear signs from Tehran that it wants to try to negotiate with Washington.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei also told State TV that talks are still expected in the next few days but details, including where they will take place, are still being discussed. Baghaei said Turkey and Oman, among other countries in the region, have promised to host talks, according to the official Tasnim news agency.
Growing conflicts
Tensions have risen again between the US and Iran as Tehran spends weeks quashing protests that began in late December against economic instability before escalating into a challenge to the country’s democracy.
As the US moves more warships into the Iranian region, the country’s top leader says the attack would start a ‘regional war’ – but President Donald Trump is keeping his list of demands. [Correction: This video has been edited to remove images from a funeral of Iranian regime figures that were erroneously included in this report.]
Trump had promised in early January that he would “liberate” the Iranian people from their government’s protests before beginning to pressure Tehran into a deal on its nuclear program. That’s the case as the Republican president insists that Iran’s nuclear facilities were “destroyed” in the US strikes in June.
“We have ongoing negotiations with Iran. We’ll see how everything goes,” Trump told reporters on Monday. Asked what his limit was for fighting Iran, he declined to elaborate.
“I would like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we can work something out, that would be good. And if we can’t, maybe bad things can happen.”
Turkey has been working behind the scenes for talks to take place there later this week as Witkoff will travel to the region. A Turkish official later said that the location of the talks had not been confirmed but that Turkey was ready to support the process.
The formation of the US military
Meanwhile, the US military has been moving an increasing amount of supplies to the region in the past few weeks, including the Lincoln and several destroyers, which arrived last week.
The carrier strike group, which brought about 5,700 additional service members, joined three destroyers and three battleships already in the region.
Analysts of flight tracking data have also noticed a number of US military aircraft heading to the region.
The operation is similar to last year when the US moved to air defense hardware, such as the Patriot missile system, in anticipation of an Iranian attack following the US bombing of three key nuclear sites. Iran launched more than a dozen missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar days after the strikes.
The US has several bases in the Middle East, including Al Udeid, which houses thousands of US troops and is the main headquarters of US Central Command.
