Official: Iran drone nears US fighter jet

An unarmed Iranian drone came within 100 feet of a US Navy warplane as it prepared to land on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf, a US official said today.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that despite repeated radio calls to stay clear of the US plane, the Iranian drone “executed unsafe and unprofessional altitude changes” close to the US Navy F/A-18E. The warplane was in a holding pattern and preparing to land aboard the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier.

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The official described the interaction as “unsafe and unprofessional”.

This was the 13th unsafe and unprofessional interaction between the United States and Iranian maritime forces in 2017, the official said.

The United States has a number of military bases in the region, including in Qatar and Kuwait across the Gulf from Iran and the US Fifth Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain.