The US military shot down an Iranian drone that approached the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, an American official told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying towards the carrier and was shot down by a F-35 US fighter jet.
"An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board," said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson at the US military's Central Command.
No American service members were harmed during the incident, and no US equipment was damaged, he added.
The White House later praised CENTCOM's actions and affirmed that talks scheduled for Friday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were still on.
US tanker approached by Iranian gunboats
In a separate incident, six Iranian gunboats approached a US-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, north of Oman, according to maritime sources and a security consultancy.
US officials confirmed that armed Iranian boats attempted to stop the US-flagged ship, which was subsequently escorted to safety.
"Two IRGC boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached M/V Stena Imperative at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker," Hawkins said.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) stated it is investigating the incident, which occurred in the inbound Traffic Separation Scheme of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian gunboats attempted to contact the tanker via VHF radio, but the ship ignored their requests to stop and continued on its planned route.
Maritime security firm Vanguard Tech reported to its clients that six Iranian gunboats, equipped with 50 caliber guns, ordered the tanker to shut down its engines and prepare to be boarded. Instead, the vessel accelerated and was later escorted by a US warship, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted unnamed Iranian officials who claimed that a vessel had entered Iranian territorial waters without the necessary legal permits, was warned, and subsequently left the area "without any special security event taking place."
However, according to the maritime risk management group Vanguard, the tanker, identified as the Stena Imperative, "did not enter Iranian internal territorial waters" and was escorted by a US warship.
“Given increased military activity and elevated regional tensions, the potential for misjudgment cannot be discounted,” Vanguard told its clients in a statement.
The incidents come after US President Donald Trump said that he had sent an armada of ships to the Middle East. Trump warned that with US warships heading toward Iran, "bad things" would probably happen if a deal could not be reached.
"There's another beautiful armada floating beautifully towards Iran right now," Trump added, sharing that he hopes Iran will "make a deal" and “should have made a deal the first time.”