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U.S. officials and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) offered conflicting accounts Friday about a confrontation involving the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea during the war between the United States and Iran.
Two U.S. officials briefed on the matter told CBS News that an Iranian vessel sailed too close to the USS Abraham Lincoln and U.S. forces fired at it earlier this week.
Separately, IRGC said a missile and drone attack caused heavy damage to the aircraft carrier.
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According to the U.S. officials, who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, a U.S. Navy vessel tried to fire on the Iranian vessel with a 5-inch, 54-caliber Mark-45 gun.
The officials said the shots missed multiple times, though it was not clear whether they were intended as warning shots.
The officials said a helicopter armed with Hellfire missiles was then launched and hit the Iranian vessel with two missiles.
The status of the Iranian ship and its crew was not known.
CBS News reported that it was not known which U.S. naval vessel fired on the Iranian ship.
The USS Spruance and the USS Michael Murphy, both destroyers, are operating with the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea in support of U.S. military actions against Iran.
CBS News also reported that six other guided-missile destroyers were operating in the Arabian Sea as of last week.
It was not clear what type of helicopter was used in the strike. CBS News said Navy Seahawk helicopters and Marine Corps Viper attack helicopters can carry Hellfire missiles, and noted that MH-60R Seahawks have a multi-mission role that includes anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare.
CBS News said it contacted U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations against Iran. A defense official responded, "We have nothing for you on this."
In a separate account, IRGC said early Friday that a missile and drone attack caused significant damage to the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.
The IRGC said the U.S. Navy carrier was targeted during operations in the region. The statement did not provide details on the extent of the damage or possible casualties.
The U.S. military had not released a statement on the claim.
The USS Abraham Lincoln is one of two American aircraft carriers deployed to the Middle East. The Lincoln carrier strike group arrived in the region in late January as part of what U.S. President Donald Trump described as an "armada."
In early February, an Iranian Shahed-139 drone "aggressively" approached the aircraft carrier and "unnecessarily maneuvered" toward it, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson said at the time.
The drone was shot down by an American fighter jet weeks before the war between the two countries began.
Since the start of the U.S. war with Iran, American forces have damaged or destroyed more than 90 Iranian vessels, according to Central Command.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, has a long history of deployments supporting U.S. interests in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
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