USS Abraham Lincoln 'fleeing' after missile strike, Iran claims. US tells a different story

Iran has claimed that it has attacked the American warship USS Abraham Lincoln and that the vessel and its strike group are fleeing the Gulf waters. Washington has pushed back against the claim, saying that it is not true. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said that ballistic missiles and drones struck the aircraft carrier, and it is no longer operational. Meanwhile, the United States said an Iranian vessel came too close to the warship, and American troops fired shots at it. US officials said the strikes missed the Iranian ship multiple times. Iran’s Central Headquarters of the Holy Prophet said in a statement that advanced missiles and drones hit the carrier as part of a precision operation. The vessel was about 340 kilometres from Iran’s maritime borders in the Sea of Oman at the time. Iran’s state television reported that the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group were seen “fleeing the area at high speed". However, the United States has dismissed the reports as false.

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US says USS Abraham Lincoln is fine and operational

To support the claim that the warship was still operational, the United States Central Command posted a photo and stated that the carrier strike group was still operational. "The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group continues to support Operation Epic Fury and project power from the sea," it wrote. CBS News reported that one Iranian vessel came close to USS Abraham Lincoln, and a US Navy ship tried to fire on the Iranian vessel using a 5-inch, 54-calibre Mark 45 gun, a fully automated naval cannon. The outlet quoted US officials as saying that the US strikes missed the Iranian ship multiple times. Whether the ship was hit or not is not known. The incident happened earlier this week. The IRGC had previously also claimed to have struck the aircraft carrier. The US forces refuted those claims as well, saying that the "missiles launched didn't even come close".

American warships in Middle East

Two US aircraft carriers - USS Gerald R Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln - are supporting war operations in the Middle East. USS Spruance and the USS Michael Murphy are providing additional support. Six other guided-missile destroyers are also stationed in the Arabian Sea. The US had earlier claimed that it had sunk 16 ships laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. American forces also destroyed the mothership Shahid Bagheri, a drone carrier. US Central Command released a video and wrote, “Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman; today, they have ZERO.”