United States Central Command released a video Thursday showing a crowd of jets lining up and taking off from the runway of the USS Abraham Lincoln. The aircraft carrier is currently in the Arabian Sea after US President Donald Trump put Iran under close watch and a “huge fleet” headed towards the Gulf region.
Visuals from US Central Command’s official X handle show several fighter jets and sailors on board moving in an orderly routine. (X/@CENTCOM)Visuals from US Central Command’s official X handle show several fighter jets and sailors on board moving in an orderly routine.
“Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are trained to work as a team to launch and recover safely and on time, every time,” US Central Command wrote in X.
The video was released two days after the US military shot down an Iranian drone that approached the USS Abraham Lincoln ‘aggressively’.
“The drone approached the aircraft carrier ‘aggressively’ with an ‘unclear motive’ and ‘continued to fly towards the ship despite de-escalator measures taken by US forces in international waters,'” news agency AFP quoted a statement from US Central Command as saying, adding that no American soldiers were injured and no equipment was damaged.
The Shahed-139 drone was shot down by a US Navy F-35C fighter jet that was stationed on an aircraft carrier about 500 miles off the southern coast.
US-Iran tensionsAfter Iran clamped down on anti-government protests in early January and launched a deadly crackdown on protesters, President Donald Trump intervened to warn that the US military would launch an attack on the Islamic Republic if the violence continued.
Last week, Trump said he wanted to avoid using military force against Iran, a day after Tehran warned that “time is running out” to strike a deal and that a US naval strike group was “ready, willing and able” to strike Iran.
The Islamic Republic’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Aragchi, responded by saying the country had learned “valuable lessons” from last year’s 12-day war. “Our brave armed forces are ready – finger on the trigger – to respond promptly and forcefully to any aggression against our beloved land, air and sea,” he said.
