Iran says US aircraft carrier withdrew after drone encounter near Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln withdrew from waters near the Strait of Hormuz after what it described as an encounter with Iranian naval drones.

According to the Iranian news agency Mizan, a spokesperson for the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the aircraft carrier had approached to within roughly 340 kilometres of the strait before Iranian drones engaged it.

“The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which approached Iranian territorial waters, was attacked by Iranian Navy drones and fled at high speed accompanied by its destroyers,” the spokesperson said.

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There has been no immediate confirmation of the incident from US military authorities.

In a separate development, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told NBC News that a vessel reportedly sunk by US forces in the Indian Ocean had been unarmed and was carrying training officers. Araqchi described the strike as a war crime.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s navy said it had recovered 87 bodies from the sea following the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean.

The incidents come amid heightened tensions and ongoing military exchanges involving Iran, the United States and Israel across the region.

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