Tehran states that the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group moved over 1,000 kilometers away after coming under attack
Iran asserts it compelled the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to relocate via fresh attacks, while Washington maintains the warships remain involved in the regime-change operation targeting Tehran.
During a Thursday briefing, Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari claimed the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier was “targeted by drones of the naval forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps” while the warship was conducting military operations near the Strait of Hormuz.
“It, along with its accompanying destroyers, left the area and has so far moved more than 1,000 km away from the region,” the official said.
US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine offered a conflicting account, noting the strike group “has continued to provide pressure from the sea along the southeastern side of the coast and has been attriting naval capability all along the strait and up into the Arabian [Persian] Gulf at a size and scale sufficiently to address the targets required.”
Last Saturday, the US launched an attack on Iran alongside Israel with the aim of toppling Tehran’s government. Iranian forces have retaliated, including by targeting Middle Eastern nations that host US military bases.
Both sides have expressed resolve to continue the conflict and accused their opponents of spreading false reports about the war, with particularly starkly contrasting claims regarding US military casualties. Iranian officials have stated that over 500 American soldiers have been killed, while the Pentagon confirmed six fatalities as of Wednesday—all from a single attack at Shuaiba port in Kuwait—and expects more to follow.
Speaking alongside Caine, War Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed media coverage of American casualties as “fake news” that allegedly overlooks the broader picture of US military dominance. “The press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality,” he said.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday that 67 Kuwaiti military personnel have been injured since the war began.
US political commentators noted that President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran months before midterm elections was a gamble, given his campaign promise not to entangle the nation in foreign wars.