Did Iran attack the flagship US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln? Claims and counter-claims emerged as Iran said its missiles hit the aircraft carrier.
The Iran-based Tehran Times quoted Central Command spokesman Khatam al-Anbiya as saying on Friday: “The USS Abraham Lincoln was targeted by IRGC (Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) naval forces and rendered inoperable.”
“The carrier has left the region and is currently returning to the United States,” the spokesman claimed.
According to NDTV, the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) Central Command of the Iranian military said a precision operation involving advanced missiles and drones hit the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln approximately 340 kilometers from Iran’s maritime border in the Sea of Oman.
The report further quoted Iranian state television as saying that after the strike, the US vessel and its accompanying strike group were seen “fleeing the area at high speed”.
However, USS rejected this claim.
What did the US say?
Soon after Iran’s announcement, US Central Command released several images of the USS Abraham Lincoln and wrote: “The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group continues to support Operation Epic Fury and project power from the sea.
Meanwhile, CBS News, citing sources, reported that an Iranian vessel sailed too close to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and the US fired on the vessel.
Officials said the US Navy vessel attempted to fire on the Iranian vessel with its 5-inch Mark-45 54-caliber gun, a fully automated naval gun that is mounted on the foredeck of Navy destroyers and cruisers and has served as the fleet’s standard deck gun since the early 1970s.
The report states that the USS Spruance and the USS Michael Murphy, both destroyers, are embarked with the Abraham Lincoln, which is operating in the Arabian Sea in support of US military actions against Iran.
However, six more guided missile destroyers have been operating in the Arabian Sea since last week.
The USS Abraham Lincoln is one of two US aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East. The Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the region in late January, part of what President Donald Trump has described as an “army.”
US Central Command has repeatedly denied Iran’s claim that it struck the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Earlier on March 7, she posted a photo of an aircraft carrier from the Arabian Sea and said: “First the Iranian regime claimed and re-claimed (five days in a row) that it sank the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Now the regime claims the aircraft carrier miraculously surfaced and ‘left the battlefield’ after an ‘encounter and Iranian missiles’. NEED WE SAY MORE?
Before that, on March 1, CENTCOM said: “Iranian IRGC claims to have hit USS Abraham Lincoln with ballistic missiles. LIE.”
“Lincoln was not hit. Missiles fired did not even come close. Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime,” it added.
