Overview
- U.S. Central Command said an F-35C launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln shot down an approaching Iranian drone in the Arabian Sea roughly 800 km south of Iran.
- No U.S. personnel were injured and no American equipment was damaged, according to Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins.
- In a separate episode hours later, two IRGC fast boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone threatened to board the American-flagged tanker M/V Stena Imperative in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iranian state media said a Revolutionary Guard Shahed-129 on a routine surveillance mission was lost in international waters, while Western accounts identified the downed aircraft as a Shahed-139.
- Negotiations between Washington and Tehran are still slated for this week in Oman, as analysts point to uncertainty over who in Iran authorized the maritime approaches.