Why the U.S. shot down an Iranian drone — and what comes next
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Good morning. The U.S. strikes down an Iranian drone just days before major talks. Reuters broke the news and tells us what it means.
It's a particularly tense time. It's a particularly important time.
Why did the U.S. shoot down an Iranian drone?
And incidents like this really highlight the lack of trust on both sides.
The five-year-old boy whose ICE detention drew outcry has been sent home to Minneapolis. The Washington Post explains why more kids are being detained. And the copyright battle that almost cost an Olympian figure skater his dream performance. It's Wednesday, February 4th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
With a rare talk between the U.S. and Iran scheduled for later this week, things appear to be on shaky ground. Yesterday, the U.S. took down an Iranian drone operating close to an American aircraft carrier, which has been stationed nearby as part of a military buildup. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt relayed the Pentagon's decision to Fox News yesterday.
It was unmanned. It was acting aggressively towards our USS Lincoln, which we know that aircraft carrier is in the region at the direction of President Trump. As for the president, he remains committed to always pursuing diplomacy first.
What are the implications of U.S.-Iran talks following the drone incident?
But in order for diplomacy to work, of course, it takes two to tango.
Reuters' Idris Ali was first to the story. He told us the motivations here are hard to know for sure.
I think there are a couple of important things to remember here is that the incident took place in international waters. Aircraft from militaries do have the right to operate in international airspace. What is sort of in a gray zone is when they're seen as being threatening towards another country. Was the drone just flying in the general vicinity and the U.S. took it down? Or was it maybe heading towards the aircraft carrier in a way that was seen as threatening?
What details emerged about Liam Conejo Ramos' detention?
For now, the end-of-the-week talk is still on. What's less clear is what Trump actually wants to achieve.
If you're a listener, then confused. I think that is totally warranted because officials in Washington within the administration themselves are confused because this all started as President Trump really focusing on protests in Iran and quite directly telling the Iranian protesters on Truth Social saying, Help is on its way. That help never came or hasn't come so far. But the buildup continues, and now it seems to be some version of limiting Iran's nuclear sort of ambitions and potentially its ballistic missile program.
Ali points out if the focus is on Iran's nuclear capabilities, Trump already claimed to have made a significant ding in attacks last summer.
The U.S. in June carried out a large sort of attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities. And at the time, Trump said, mission accomplished. Iran's nuclear ambitions have been essentially decimated. And so it's really unclear what the aims are. It's unclear how you can achieve them through an aerial bombing campaign.
Iranian officials have briefed Reuters that their primary goal is de-escalation with the U.S. And Iran's president said yesterday he backed, quote, Some of Ali's colleagues have reported in recent days that some within Iran's government worry how strikes might reignite protests on the ground. The demonstrations in Iran have been silenced for now, with thousands reportedly killed by the regime. But the underlying economic conditions that provoked them remain, giving the Pentagon some leverage.
The Iranian government, the leadership, has never been... in a weaker position. They have been hit in many key areas by U.S. and Israeli strikes in June, so less than a year ago. And the political and economic situation has only deteriorated. And so if you're looking from the outside, you could see sort of the thinking process of why now might be a time to take out a regime, a government that for decades you have seen it as an adversary.
Unlike in Venezuela, though, the Trump administration appears much less convinced that proactively forcing leadership change in Iran would be a good idea. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators last week that no one knows what would happen next.
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