Tankers damaged/sunk in the persian gulf.

[careful_eugene]

.......... National interests on the other side of the world?

Cheap fuel.

Do you think it's as simple as that and not world domination or a desire to bring about the rapture?

[adam2]

American military drone "shot down by Iranian drone" in international waters over the straight of Hormuz.

The oil price rises slightly.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-48700965

Edited to add that later reports state that an Iranian missile, and not an Iranian drone shot down the American craft.
The Iranian authorities claim that the American craft was over their territory, and not in international air space as is stated by America.

[PS_RalphW]

The US military industrial complex is rubbing its hands in glee at the cost plus contracts to replace all the drones and missiles that are about to be expended.

[Little John]

.......... National interests on the other side of the world?

Cheap fuel.

Do you think it's as simple as that and not world domination or a desire to bring about the rapture?

It starts with geology/geography, leading to economics, leading to culture and politics. In other words, over the longer term, despite any short term cultural anomalies, cultural forms evolve to support economic imperatives. Not the other way around.

Marx was right on that point. It's all about economics. Follow the money. Or, rather, given that money is merely the accounting system for resources - follow the resources.

[raspberry-blower]

The US military industrial complex is rubbing its hands in glee at the cost plus contracts to replace all the drones and missiles that are about to be expended.

The downed drone wasn't any bog standard drone - it was a Global Hawk:

The loss of the Global Hawk drone is significant. These huge birds, with a wingspan larger than a Boeing 737, are considered strategic assets. They were build as replacements for the infamous U-2 spy planes. They carry highly classified sensors and cost more than $120 million a piece

Source

EDIT: the make of drone appears to be different to originally stated:

The drone was the RQ-4N BAMS-D. It was the U.S. navy owned prototype for the new MQ-4C Trition type of the Global Hawk that is currently build. The RQ-4N was unique. It used an old Global Hawk frame packed with new electronic equipment. It was used as the test bed for the gigantic data hoover that the Triton will be. But it was also a piece of equipment that was hard to maintain and that had served its purpose. The first of the hew drones will be delivered this summer. The RQ-4N was arguably expandable.

The Iranian IRGC says that the drone had switched off its transponder shortly after take off. A look at the usual live air traffic sites confirms that the drone was not tracked by the civil aviation systems which monitor transponder signals.

Update

[adam2]

Latest reports state that America launched a cyber attack against Iranian weapon systems.

Presumably the Americans were confident that their own systems were not vulnerable to a similar attack.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48735097

[ReserveGrowthRulz]

Latest reports state that America launched a cyber attack against Iranian weapon systems.

<yawn>

If something doesn't go BOOM, big deal. Conspiracy advocates can't spin a decent tale around some random malware.

Presumably the Americans were confident that their own systems were not vulnerable to a similar attack.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48735097

I would presume no such thing. But maybe the Iranians can get in the way of Fakebook access or something, maybe tick off some reality social media stars that their hits and views are down?