The United States\u2019 flagship aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln,\nhas departed the Middle East, drawing mockery from Iran. The carrier has\nbeen replaced by USS George Washington, with the withdrawal attributed\nto the dire condition of the ship and its crew.<\/p>\n
In a statement via social media platform X, US Central Command\n(CENTCOM), which oversees US military operations in the Middle East,\nannounced that USS George Washington and its strike group were operating\nin the Middle East to replace USS Abraham Lincoln. \u201cThe George\nWashington Carrier Strike Group is operating in the Middle East on a\nscheduled deployment after arriving in the CENTCOM area of operations\nyesterday,\u201d CENTCOM said on Thursday local time.<\/p>\n
The deployment of USS George Washington to the Middle East was\nordered by US President Donald Trump days after media reports emerged\nabout poor conditions aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been\ndeployed since November 2025 in the South China Sea before being\ndiverted to the Middle East. The media reports caused unwanted\ndisruption for Trump amid his efforts to promote the war against Iran,\nwhich has lacked domestic support in the United States.<\/p>\n
USS Abraham Lincoln had been deployed to the Middle East during the\nwar Trump has waged against Iran since late February. The extended\ndeployment drew criticism among politicians in Washington DC, with the\nUS carrier reported to have sailed for more than 240 days at sea, 200 of\nwhich were without transit or stopping at any port.<\/p>\n
A US official confirmed the departure of the Lincoln, which had\npreviously been mentioned by Admiral Brad Cooper, head of CENTCOM, in an\nopinion article about Abraham Lincoln published in The Wall Street\nJournal. \u201cFair winds and following seas, and enjoy a reunion you have\ncertainly earned,\u201d Cooper wrote, as quoted by The New York Times.<\/p>\n
USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Middle East in January and had\nsince supported US military operations against Iran, including a naval\nblockade of Tehran\u2019s ports and ships. A report released last week by\nMilitary Times and Stars & Stripes described various problems aboard\nthe US carrier, including damage to the water system, sanitation issues,\nshortages of fresh food supplies, and limited opportunities for sailors\nto go ashore.<\/p>\n
Families of US military personnel assigned to USS Abraham Lincoln\nhave expressed concern about their mental health. Several reports\nindicated that some personnel attempted to jump overboard. Conditions on\nthe carrier became a focus in Washington DC, with 13 Democratic members\nof the US Senate Armed Services Committee writing to Defence Secretary\nPete Hegseth to demand an explanation regarding the duration of the\ndeployment and the conditions faced by personnel on the ship.<\/p>\n
Hegseth dismissed various reports about the poor conditions on the\ncarrier, calling them \u201cmischaracterised\u201d. Trump ignored the concerns\nraised and, when asked about the duration of the deployment, replied:\n\u201cNowhere near long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran reacted to the departure of USS Abraham Lincoln, saying the\nexhausted crew showed the US had failed in its show of force. \u201cThe\nUnited States sent USS Abraham Lincoln to the region to show force,\u201d\nsaid Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei. He said the US\ncarrier had failed in its mission. USS Abraham Lincoln is now sailing\ntowards Thai waters. \u201cAfter months of war and more than 200 days without\na single port call, the ship is now sailing to Thailand for rest and\nrecovery of its crew,\u201d he said.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/iran-mocks-us-as-uss-abraham-lincoln-weighs-anchor-1787842398", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }