US Navy Reports Encounter With Iranian Drone

A US official claimed on Tuesday that an unarmed Iranian drone came within 31 meters of a US Navy warplane, as it prepared to land on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. The unnamed official said despite repeated radio calls to stay clear of the US plane, the drone "executed unsafe and unprofessional altitude changes" close to the US Navy jet F/A-18E. The warplane was in a holding pattern and preparing to land aboard the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, Reuters reported. Similar incidents between the US and Iran are not uncommon. However, this is the first time that the US Navy claims an Iranian drone has come dangerously close to a US fighter plane in the Persian Gulf. This was the 13th "unsafe and unprofessional" interaction between the United States and Iranian maritime forces in 2017, the official claimed.