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The US military said it shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively approached” an American aircraft carrier 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast on Tuesday, an incident that risks escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran.
In a separate incident hours later, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces threatened to board and seize a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
The approaches from Iranian drones and IRGC gunboats risk antagonising US President Donald Trump, who has been weighing taking military action against Iran. Officials from the two countries are planning to meet for talks on Friday over Iran’s nuclear programme and other issues.
An F-35 fighter jet from the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier shot down a Shahed-130 drone that “unnecessarily manoeuvred toward the ship” with “unclear intent”, according to a spokesperson for US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the region.
The US has amassed what President Donald Trump has called a “large armada” in the Middle East to take potential military action against Iran.
“The Iranian drone continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by US forces operating in international waters”, the Centcom spokesperson added. US forces shot it down in “self-defence”.
Two IRGC boats and a Mohajer drone approached the Stena Imperative at “high speeds” and “threatened to board and seize the tanker”, Centcom said. A US destroyer then escorted the Stena Imperative with support from US aircraft, and the situation has “de-escalated”, the Centcom spokesperson said.
Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, quoted unnamed Iranian officials as saying that “a vessel entered Iranian waters”, prompting the country’s “supervisory units to demand the necessary permissions”.
The agency added that the vessel “lacked any legal authorisation to be in these waters”, and had received a “warning” after which it “immediately left Iran’s waters . . . without any incident”.
Centcom said: “Continued Iranian harassment and threats in international waters and airspace will not be tolerated. Iran’s unnecessary aggression near US forces, regional partners and commercial vessels increases risks of collision, miscalculation, and regional destabilisation.”
The Stena Imperative left Singaporean waters in mid-January and on Tuesday began transiting the Strait of Hormuz — a vital maritime chokepoint through which a third of the world’s seaborne oil trade passes — according to ship-tracking website Marine Traffic. It has now passed into the Gulf.
The US navy has 10 ships in Middle Eastern waters, including the Abraham Lincoln’s carrier strike group. “We have big ships heading to Iran right now . . . We have talks going on with Iran, we will see how it all works out,” Trump said on Monday.
The US has also added more fighter jets and air defences in the region.
The Stena Imperative has been part of the US’s Military Sealift Command, which provides logistics and transport services to the US armed forces. Its fleet consists of ships owned by the US Navy and merchant vessels such as the Stena Imperative, on charter from commercial shipowners.
Crowley Government Services, which manages the Stena Imperative, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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