US aircraft carrier enters Middle East region as Iran warns against attack
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USS Abraham Lincoln transiting the Pacific Ocean on Jan 8, 2022.
PHOTO: USNAVY/X
WASHINGTON – A US naval strike group led by an aircraft carrier has deployed to Middle Eastern waters, the US said on Jan 26, as Tehran warned it was ready to hit back at any American attack
A US-based rights group said on Jan 26 that it had confirmed the deaths of nearly 6,000 people
The protests started in late December 2025, driven by economic grievances, but turned into a mass movement against the Islamic republic, with huge street demonstrations lasting several days from Jan 8.
But rights groups have accused the authorities of quelling the movement with unprecedented violence, including shooting into crowds of protesters, under the cover of an internet shutdown that has now lasted 18 days – the longest Iran has ever imposed.
The clerical leadership that took power after the 1979 Islamic Revolution remains in place despite the protests, with many opponents of the system looking to outside intervention as the most likely driver of change.
US President Donald Trump has previously threatened to step in, saying last week that Washington was sending a “massive fleet” to the region, “just in case”.
The deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group dramatically boosts American firepower in the region.
The strike group has arrived in the Middle East, US Central Command said on Jan 26, adding that it was there “to promote regional security and stability”.
The US backed and briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June 2025, and while Mr Trump last week appeared to step back from his threats of new military intervention, he has never ruled the option out.
‘Regret-inducing response’
Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned on Jan 26 of a “comprehensive and regret-inducing response to any aggression”.
Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said: “The arrival of such a battleship is not going to affect Iran’s determination and seriousness to defend the Iranian nation.”
A senior military official told state television that the “build-up of extra-regional forces and equipment... would not act as a deterrent but rather increase their vulnerability and turn them into accessible targets”.
Meanwhile, a new anti-US billboard has appeared in Tehran’s central Enghelab Square that appears to show an American aircraft carrier being destroyed.
“If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind,” its English-language caption reads.
In Lebanon, Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah, whose capabilities and leadership were severely degraded in a war with Israel in 2024, organised a rally in support of the Islamic republic featuring an address by its leader Naim Qassem, who warned that “a war on Iran this time will ignite the region”.
Iran’s Gulf neighbour, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which hosts a US airbase, said it would not allow attacks on Iran to be launched from its territory.
The US military’s Al Dhafra Air Base is located south of the UAE capital Abu Dhabi and has been a critical US Air Force hub in support of key missions against ISIS, as well as reconnaissance deployments across the region.
Rising toll
Non-governmental organisations tracking the toll from the crackdown have said their task has been impeded by the internet shutdown, warning that confirmed figures are likely to be far lower than the actual number.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed that 5,848 people had been killed, including 209 members of the security forces. But it added that it was still investigating another 17,091 possible fatalities.
At least 41,283 people have been arrested, the group said.
Giving their first official toll from the protests, the Iranian authorities last week said 3,117 people were killed, the majority of whom it described as members of the security forces or innocent bystanders killed by “rioters”.
Confirming that the internet blackout remains in place, monitor Netblocks said the shutdown was “obscuring the extent of a deadly crackdown on civilians”.
Mr Hosein Rafieian, a senior Iranian official for matters relating to the digital economy, told the Mehr news agency on Jan 26 that “we hope that companies’ access to the international internet will be restored within the next day or two”.
Over the weekend, Persian-language TV channel Iran International, which is based outside the country, said more than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces on Jan 8 and 9, citing reports, documents and sources. It was not immediately possible to verify the report.
Activists have said that the Revolutionary Guards, a military force separate from the regular army with the mandate of keeping the Islamic Revolution alive, took a front-line position in putting down the protests.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Jan 26 urged the European Union to list the guards as a “terrorist organisation”, as Canada and the US have done, saying that “the losses suffered by the civilian population during the protests demand a clear response”. AFP
