U.S. Central Command dismisses Iranian claims that it struck U.S. aircraft carrier in missile attack

U.S. Central Command is dismissing claims by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of attacking the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader and other top officials.

“The Lincoln was not hit. The Missiles launched didn’t even come close,” Central Command officials posted on X. “The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.”

The IRGC claimed to have fired four ballistic missiles at the USS Lincoln, which is the primary U.S. naval warship operating in the Arabian Sea.

Iranian officials vowed that the “land and sea will increasingly become the graveyard of terrorist aggressors.”

The USS Lincoln is one of two U.S. aircraft carriers operating in the region as part of Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran. The USS Gerald R. Ford is operating in the Eastern Mediterranean, having recently arrived along the coast of Israel.

The U.S. campaign and a parallel Israeli mission, codenamed Operation Roaring Lion, have several goals. They include permanently preventing Iran from acquiring or developing nuclear weapons and neutralizing Tehran’s ballistic missile arsenal and production infrastructure.