The USS Abraham Lincoln is currently in the Arabian Sea, poisoned within striking distance of Tehran. Officers on board said the vessel and its back-up warships have the same mission – to deter Iranian forces from attacking US targets – and remain prepared to launch strikes should President Donald Trump give that order. Rear Admiral Michael Boyle, commander of the Carrier Strike Group 12, one of four US Navy carrier strike groups currently assigned to the US Fleet Forces Command, told Sky News: “A large part of deterrence is the readiness that backs that deterrence up.
“We are ready to defend the US and the US interests if called upon… My job is to be here, to be ready, to deter and to defend if required.”
The carrier has not sailed through the volatile Strait of Hormuz, the narrow stretch of waters where the British-flagged Stena Impero was captured 24 days ago.
The Swedish vessel and its Indian, Pakistani and Russian crew were captured by the Iran Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for UK-owned Gibraltar seizing the Tehran Grace 1 for breaching EU sanctions.
Admiral Boyle said he preferred to hang back and observe from the northern Arabian Sea before transitioning through.
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He said: “For our mission here, which is deterrence, we are in the place we need to be.
“The people in the know in Iran know that we are more of a deterrent here than we are in the Arabian Gulf because from this position we can reach them and they can’t reach us. In a boxer’s analogy we have got overreach from the spot where we are right now.”
In June, Iran shot down a US drone, sparking outrage from President Trump.
Though he decided at the time not to retaliate despite announcing a US attack was imminent.
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The following month the Stena Impero was captured, which has since been demanded back by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mr Johnson’s new Foreign Secretary – who replaces the Prime Minister’s Tory leadership rival Jeremy Hunt – ordered Iran to release the vessel two weeks after it was captured, with the demand coming less than a week into the former Brexit Secretary’s new role.
Mr Raab told Sky News: “If the Iranians want to come of the dark and be accepted as a responsible member of the intentional community they need to adhere to rules-based system of the international community.
“You cannot go about detaining unlawfully foreign vessels.”
The Stena Impero was an hour away from being saved by the Royal Navy aboard the HMS Montrose.
It was initially claimed the Royal Navy was ten minutes away from saving the ship.
But former Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt admitted the vessel was an hour from being rescued.
It was captured on July 19.
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