A US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching an American aircraft carrier early Tuesday morning.
A US military spokesperson said an Iranian drone – Shahed-139 drone – was shot down as it “aggressively approached” an American aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday.
An F-35C stealth fighter jet which took off from the USS Abraham Lincoln warship shot down the drone “in self-defense” to protect the aircraft carrier and its personnel, US Central Command spokesperson Capt Tim Hawkins was quoted by the BBC as saying..
The Iranian Mission to the UN did not immediately comment on the incident.
The ship was approximately 500 miles from the Iranian coast when the drone approached it with “unclear intent”. No US equipment was damaged and no service members were harmed, the report added.
Iran ready for negotiations
Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was ready to negotiate with the US. In a statement on
Pezeshkian said Iran would pursue “fair and equitable negotiations” with the US, adding that they should be “conducted within the framework of our national interests”.
US negotiating with Iran ‘right now’: Trump
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Tehran and Washington are negotiating right now and that the Islamic Republic does not want the June attacks to happen again.
“They’d like to do something, and we’ll see if something is going to be done. They had a chance to do something a while ago, and it didn’t work out, and we did Midnight Hammer. I don’t think they want that happening again, but they would like to negotiate. We are negotiating with them right now.”
Iran-US talks later this week?
According to US media reports, the talks may be held in Istanbul on Friday, with Araghchi due to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff has been planning to hold talks with Iranian officials in Turkey later this week.
She confirmed that talks are still scheduled despite the drone incident.
“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,” she added.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also been reportedly invited to participate.
Iran-US deal: What’s it about?
Iranian minister Araghchi told CNN in an interview that he was “confident that we can achieve a deal” to “ensure that there is no nuclear weapons”.
US President Donald Trump has built up forces in the region and threatened to take military action if Iran does not agree a deal on its nuclear program and stop killing protesters.
Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and denies that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
When asked about the prospect of a deal by reporters, Trump said: “If we can work something out, that would be great, and if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”
He said a “tremendous force” was headed to Iran, including the “biggest and the best” ships.
Whether Iran and the US can reach an agreement remains to be seen, particularly as Trump has now included Iran’s nuclear program in a list of demands from Tehran in any talks.
Trump ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.
(With inputs from agencies)
