- The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group has moved into the Middle East within range of Iran, with U.S. officials saying the deployment is meant to promote regional security amid escalating tensions.
- The deployment follows weeks of deadly Iranian crackdowns on nationwide protests over economic collapse and the Islamic theocracy, with death toll estimates in the thousands.
- Iran has responded with sharp warnings against U.S. intervention, threatening severe retaliation and amplifying hostile rhetoric and imagery targeting American forces.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier accompanied by destroyers has arrived in the Middle East, and was located Monday in range of Iran.
U.S. Central Command said the strike group was deployed “to promote regional security and stability.”
The move comes several weeks after Iran’s deadly response to citizen protests that flared up at the end of December. Protests originally erupted as a response to the country’s failing economy, but quickly grew to encompass grievances against the ruling Islamic theocracy.
While it’s been difficult to accurately gauge the death toll in Iran over the past month, estimates range from around 5,500 to much higher. Mid-January, CBS reported it likely exceeded 12,000, and a U.S.-based nonprofit suspects it tops 30,000.
Reports from doctors and other Iranians who have since fled the country show the brutality increasing significantly after the regime cut the country’s internet access. Law enforcement response became “shoot-to-kill,” the Deseret News previously reported.
On Friday, President Donald Trump told reporters the strike group was en route to the Middle East. “We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens,” he said. “We have a big force going toward Iran. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.”
Trump has been vocally supportive of the protests in Iran since they began, urging Iranians to “keep protesting” and to “take over your institutions.”
On Jan. 13, he promised, “Help is on its way.” But the next day, he told reporters in the Oval Office that the killing in Iran had stopped, and Iran’s protester-execution plans had been scrapped. Until the USS Abraham Lincoln sailed into the Indian Ocean late last week, things had been relatively quiet.
Iran government responds to U.S. military presence
Officials from the Islamic Republic of Iran have ramped up talks against any potential U.S. military intervention.
“Our response will be more decisive and more painful than before if we become the target of a U.S.–Zionist attack,” a defense ministry spokesman, Reza Talaei-Nik, said on Monday.
Esmail Baghaei, a foreign ministry spokesman, separately warned Iran’s neighboring countries that “any security breach in the region will not affect Iran only.” Baghaei added, “The lack of security is contagious.”
And over the weekend, Iranian officials put up a new, violent banner in central Tehran depicting an American aircraft carrier under attack. Explosions in the shape of stars dot the blue ship, and red lines trail off to the right. It includes the warning in both Arabic and English, “If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.”
