The US military on Tuesday shot down an Iranian drone that had approached the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, the White House said.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the drone was acting "aggressively" towards the carrier.
The US military's Central Command "acted both appropriately and necessarily to protect our US, personnel and equipment in the region", she told Fox News. "Centcom did make the decision to shoot down that Iranian drone."
US media reported that an Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying towards the carrier and was shot down by a fighter jet.
US President Donald Trump has said that an “armada” was heading to the Middle East amid continuing tension with Iran. The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group has been in the Middle East region since at least last week.
Ms Leavitt said Mr Trump "is always wanting to pursue diplomacy first, but obviously it takes two to tango. You need a willing partner to achieve diplomacy".
She added that US special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to talk to the Iranians this week.
The US and Iran are expected to engage in talks over a new nuclear deal. Mr Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers in his first term in office, in 2018.
Since returning to office, he joined Israel in strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, in June.
The tension between the two countries has been exacerbated by Iran's response to widespread protests that rocked the country for several weeks, but which have largely died down. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the crackdown killed about 6,000 people.
The President has been trying to bring Iran to the table to negotiate a new deal. Reuters reported last week that Mr Trump had demanded three conditions for resumption of talks: no enrichment of uranium in Iran; limits on Tehran's ballistic missile programme; and an end to its support for regional proxies.
