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A stealth US warplane, specifically an F-35C, shot down an Iranian drone on Tuesday as it aggressively approached an American aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. According to a Central Command spokesperson, Captain Tim Hawkins, the drone was destroyed in self-defense to safeguard the carrier and its crew. Fortunately, no injuries or damage to US personnel or equipment occurred during the incident. This event follows recent warnings from US Central Command (Centcom) to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) against unsafe, unprofessional conduct near US forces.
Meanwhile, US naval forces have a strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier stationed in the Middle East, with President Donald Trump recently threatening military action amid protests in Iran last month. In addition, maritime sources and security firms report that Iranian gunboats approached a US-flagged tanker near the Strait of Hormuz, just north of Oman. The vessels ordered the tanker, the Stena Imperative, to halt and prepare for boarding but it managed to accelerate and continue its journey without crossing Iranian internal waters. The ship was accompanied by a US warship, and an American official confirmed its US flag.
Earlier, the UK Maritime Trade Operations indicated that armed boats tried to intercept an unidentified vessel about 16 nautical miles north of Oman, within the inbound Traffic Separation Scheme of the Strait of Hormuz. The organization is currently investigating the incident. Later that day, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency quoted unnamed officials saying that a vessel entered Iranian waters without proper permits, was warned, and then left the area without incident.
The Strait of Hormuz serves as a vital route connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, with major oil-exporting countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Kuwait, and Iraq primarily shipping crude oil through it, mainly to Asian markets. Iran has previously seized vessels near or within the strait in 2023 and 2024, actions sometimes in response to US seizures of Iranian-related tankers.
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