Carrier Crisis and Blockade Ambitions: US Navy's Iran War Overstretch

The Pentagon is scrambling to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln after 265 days at sea without a port stop—a record for any US aircraft carrier. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insists conditions aboard have been "completely misrepresented" while the USS George Washington crosses the Strait of Malacca to relieve the embattled ship. Hegseth also declared the US can maintain its naval blockade of Iran "indefinitely" by rotating ships in and out.

Off the Record

Behind the...