The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, deployed to the Middle East for the war against Iran, has been hit by severe food shortages and supply disruptions. The mental health of its roughly 5,000 crew members has also deteriorated after more than eight and a half months continuously at sea.
The New York Times reported Friday that Iran struck the US naval base in Bahrain with missiles and drones early in the conflict, in retaliation for the joint US-Israeli offensive. The attack caused extensive damage, destroying the US Navy’s primary logistics hub in the Middle East.
After the Bahrain base was destroyed, the Pentagon shifted operations to Diego Garcia, a British-controlled island south of the Maldives and approximately 2,200 miles from the two aircraft carriers operating in the Gulf of Oman. With both Bahrain and the Emirati port of Fujairah within range of Iranian missiles, the remote island was Washington’s only alternative. The vast distance has made timely resupply extremely difficult.
Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern over the acute supply shortage and the deteriorating mental health of the crew. California Representative Mike Levin has raised the deep anxieties of sailors’ families.
President Donald Trump dismissed the concerns, saying the Lincoln would return home shortly and be replaced by the USS George Washington. Asked whether carrier deployments were being extended too long, Trump replied, “No, it’s not long at all.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated his threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely.
Early in the conflict, then-UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer initially refused to allow the US to use Diego Garcia but granted limited permission for defensive purposes on March 1. According to Iranian news agency WANA and other sources, Iran fired two medium-range ballistic missiles at the island on March 20 in response to the US military presence, though these claims could not be independently verified.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report