This handout picture released by the US Navy on July 14, 2019 shows the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer in the Arabian Sea [Keypher Strombeck/Navy Office of Information/AFP]

The incident was first revealed by Donald Trump, who said that USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, took defensive action after the drone came within 1,000 yards of the warship and ignored multiple calls to stand down. The drone was immediately destroyed as it threatened the safety of the American ship and its crew, Trump said, adding that this was the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters. Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif on the same day said that he didn’t receive any information about losing a drone. Tensions between the US and Iran are high in the wake of Trump’s decision in May last year to pull out of a 2015 multilateral nuclear deal with Iran and impose an oil and banking embargo on Iran.