U.S. Navy downs Iranian drone

An F-35 fighter jet from the uss Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier shot down an Iranian drone that the Navy says was “aggressively” approaching the carrier in the Arabian Sea “with unclear intent.” The drone was reported as a Shahed-139, a one-way weapon designed to crash into targets. This confrontation comes as the U.S. and Iran are planning direct talks on Friday to de-escalate a military standoff. An attack drone approaching a $10 billion American carrier and its strike group indicates that Iran—identified in the Bible as the end-time king of the south—is not backing down from its provocative foreign policy.