Security in the Middle East flared up this Tuesday as Iranian naval forces intercepted the U.S.-flagged tanker Stena Imperative in the Strait of Hormuz.
Despite orders to halt, the tanker, under American naval escort, managed to proceed without entering Iranian waters.
In a separate but related escalation, a U.S. F-35 fighter jet shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone that approached the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea.
These synchronized frictions highlight a dangerous “cat and mouse” game played in the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints
