The US military shot and destroyed an unmanned drone belonging to Iran on Tuesday.
The drone was approaching "aggressively" toward the USS Abraham Lincoln," which is sailing about 500 miles off the southern coast of Iran.
A US Central Command spokesperson said in a statement that the drone "approached a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with unclear intent," so standard practice is to shoot it down.
The spokesman added, "the Iranian Shahed-139 drone unnecessarily maneuvered toward the ship," at a time when tensions are high in the area while the Trump administration and officials from Iran attempt to negotiate peace following weeks of turmoil in Iran and US promises to intervene if the Iranian government continues killing its protesters.
Earlier in the day, six Iranian gunboats appeared ready to board a US oil tanker as it entered the Strait of Hormuz, ordering it by radio to stop, claiming it had entered Iran's territorial waters, according to CBS News.
The tanker sped up and was joined by a US warship a short time later, denying to Iranians by radio that it was not in Iran's waters.