An Iranian drone carried out a surveillance mission over the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, before being shot late on Tuesday. The incident in the Arabian Sea came as diplomats sought to arrange nuclear talks between Iran and the United States.
Fars News Agency carried the report on Tuesday, identifying the primary mission of surveillance drones of the type as monitoring all military movements in areas adjacent to the Islamic Republic, adding that data from these aircraft is transmitted to and received by ground bases in real-time.
An informed source speaking to Tasnim News Agency identified the aircraft as a Shahed-129 drone, commenting on reports from English-language media about a US aircraft targeting an Iranian drone over the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.
“The Shahed-129 drone was conducting its routine and legal mission of reconnaissance, monitoring, and imaging in international waters. This is considered a standard and lawful procedure,” it noted.
The source added that the drone successfully transmitted its surveillance and reconnaissance footage to the command center.
Communication was, however, subsequently lost, it added, saying the cause of this disconnection was currently under investigation, and that further details would be released once finalized.
US Narrative
The US military said the Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying toward the carrier “with unclear intent” and was shot down by an F-35 US fighter jet launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was transiting the Arabian Sea roughly 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast.
“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,” said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson at the US military’s Central Command, in a press statement.
Just hours after the shootdown, two Iranian ships accompanied by another unmanned aerial system approached a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to board and seize the vessel, the spokesperson said.
The encounter comes amid tentative prospects for US-Iran talks in the coming days.
Earlier in the day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had instructed the Foreign Ministry to “pursue fair and equitable” negotiations with the United States.
Writing on social media platform X, Pezeshkian said the move followed requests from regional governments to respond to a negotiation proposal from US President Donald Trump. He stressed that “any talks must take place within a framework of dignity, prudence and expediency.”