World

President Donald Trump announced on his proprietary social media platform Tuesday that the U.S. military could help shipping vessels travel through an embattled sea passage as the war against Iran rages on.

In a Truth Social post, Trump offered the possibility of naval assistance and called upon the United States Development Finance Corporation to provide risk insurance that would guarantee the financial security of maritime trade operating near the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

“If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible,” Trump said.

A high-ranking member of Iran’s primary military branch, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, warned that any vessels travelling through the 100-mile-long sea passage would be targeted and met with lethal force, according to Iranian media.

The Strait of Hormuz is a pivotal choke point for oil transit located between Oman and Iran. In 2022, 21 million barrels of oil per day were transported through the strait, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“The strait is closed, and whoever wants to cross, our heroes in the navy of the IRGC and army will set those ships on fire,” said Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the Revolutionary Guard’s commander-in-chief.

After the U.S. military struck Iran on Feb. 28, maritime traffic in the strait dropped 70%, according to MarineTraffic, a ship tracking service. As tankers became stranded in the Persian Gulf, gas prices jumped an average of 11 cents Tuesday in the U.S., according to the AAA motor club.

 (Source:newswire.lk)

President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday it must make a deal over its nuclear program or “really bad things” will happen, and set a deadline of 10 to 15 days, drawing a threat from Tehran to retaliate against U.S. bases in the region if attacked.

Amid a massive U.S. military buildup in the Middle East that has fueled fears of a wider war, Trump said negotiations with Iran to end the tense standoff were going well but demanded that Tehran reach a “meaningful” agreement.

“Otherwise bad things happen,” Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran, told the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington.

Trump spoke of the U.S. airstrikes carried out in June, saying Iran’s nuclear potential had been “decimated,” adding “we may have to take it a step further or we may not.”

“You’ll be finding out over the next probably 10 days,” he said. Asked later to elaborate, he told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I would think that would be enough time, 10, 15 days, pretty much maximum.”

But he declined to be specific, except to warn again of “really bad things” and insist that Iran would have to make a deal one way or another.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Tehran said it would not start any war but that “in the event that it is subjected to military aggression, Iran will respond decisively and proportionately” in its exercise of the right of self-defense.

“All bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile force in the region would constitute legitimate targets,” the letter said. “The United States would bear full and direct responsibility for any unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences.”

‘GOOD TALKS’: TRUMP

Trump’s threats to bomb Iran, with the two sides far apart in talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, have pushed up oil prices, and a Russian corvette warship on Thursday joined planned Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, a vital sea route for global energy.

Iranian and U.S. negotiators met on Tuesday and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said they had agreed on “guiding principles.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday, however, that the two sides remained apart on some issues.

Trump said “good talks are being had,” and a senior U.S. official said Iran would make a written proposal on how to address U.S. concerns.

Trump called on Tehran to join the U.S. on the “path to peace.”

“They can’t have a nuclear weapon, it’s very simple,” he said. “You can’t have peace in the Middle East if they have a nuclear weapon.”

Iran has resisted making major concessions on its nuclear program, though insisting it is for peaceful purposes. The U.S. and Israel in the past have accused Tehran of trying to develop a nuclear bomb.

Trump’s latest saber-rattling came as he talked himself up as a man of peace in a long, meandering speech while hosting world leaders at the launch of his Board of Peace. He proposed the body in September when he announced his plan to end Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. He later expanded the board’s remit to tackle conflicts worldwide, prompting many key Western allies to stay away.

Earlier on Thursday, Russia warned against an “unprecedented escalation of tension” around Iran on Thursday and urged restraint amid the U.S. military buildup in the region, which a senior American official said should be complete by mid-March.

THREAT OF WAR

Trump has sent aircraft carriers, warships and jets to the region, raising the prospect of another attack on the Islamic Republic.

The United States and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities and some military sites last June. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Iran on February 28, the senior U.S. official said.

Washington wants Iran to entirely give up uranium enrichment, a process used to create fuel for atomic power plants but that can also provide material for a warhead.

The U.S. and ally Israel also want Iran to give up long-range ballistic missiles, stop supporting groups around the Middle East and stop using force to quell internal protests.

Iran says it refuses to discuss issues beyond the atomic file, calling efforts to limit its missile arsenal a red line.

Satellite pictures have tracked both Iranian work to repair and fortify sites since last summer, showing work at both nuclear and missile sites, as well as preparations at U.S. bases across the Middle East over the past month.

Iran’s joint exercise with Russia came days into an extended series of Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, with Iranian state television showing Special Forces units deployed on helicopters and ships.

In a sign of growing concern over the increased tensions, Poland on Thursday became the latest European country to urge its citizens to leave Iran, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Poles may only have hours to evacuate.

Trump began threatening strikes on Iran again in January as Iranian authorities crushed widespread protests with deadly violence that left thousands dead across the country.

Source:adaderana.lk

A tram derailed Friday and slammed into a building in the heart of Milan, killing two people and injuring more than two-dozen others, officials said.

The incident, along the central Vittorio Veneto avenue, came as the Italian business capital is hosting its seasonal fashion shows and is in the interim between hosting the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.

The No. 9 tram runs through the heart of Italy’s financial capital. It was supposed to have continued straight along Vittorio Veneto and was going at a high speed. But it suddenly swerved at a switch track that is used by another tram line and went off its usual course, according to video of the crash broadcast by Sky TG24.

The video shows the tram nearly flipping onto its side as it takes the curve before slamming to a stop in a building.

Milan Mayor Beppe Sala suggested human error was to blame, saying the driver had apparently failed to switch the tracks to keep the tram going straight. Sala described the driver as a seasoned employee who had only been on his shift for an hour. But he said he had skipped a prior stop before the crash occurred, and would be questioned from the hospital where he was being treated for his injuries.

Sala confirmed two people had been killed — one passenger on the tram and one on the street. He said none of the other injured was in life-threatening condition.

Dozens of ambulances, fire trucks and police cars responded to the crash, with crews escorting passengers in thermal blankets away from the scene.

ATM, the Milan public transport company, said it was cooperating with prosecutors “to precisely establish the cause and dynamic of the incident.”

Source: AP

Australia has barred a citizen linked to the Islamic State (IS) group from the country for up to two years.

The person is among the group of 34 Australian women and children who tried to head home after being released from a Syrian camp earlier this week, only to be turned back by Syrian authorities for “technical reasons”.

The ban was issued “on advice from security agencies”, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday, adding that the other 33 people do not meet “required legal thresholds” to be banned.

Canberra has refused to repatriate the group, believed to be made up of the wives, widows and children of IS fighters. There are 23 children among them.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stressed that these families will not receive government support to come back to the country.

“You make your bed, you lie in it,” he told a press conference on Wednesday.

“These are people who chose to go overseas to align themselves with... a brutal, reactionary ideology that seeks to undermine and destroy our way of life.”

However legal experts have warned the government has an obligation to allow citizens the right of return, and, responding to reports the group had valid Australian passports, Albanese said his government would not “breach Australian law”.

This group in the al-Roj camp in northern Syria is among dozens of Australians who have been held in camps and prisons across the country since 2019, when IS was driven from its final foothold in Syria.

Opposition politicians have raised security concerns about the possibility of these Australians’ return.

“How can only one member of this group be deemed a risk and the rest somehow okay?” Liberal Party Senator Jonno Duniam said on Tuesday, offering to help amend laws to bar more of the group.

The al-Roj camp is home to more than 2,000 others from 40 different nationalities, mainly women and children.

Among them is thought to be Shamima Begum, who was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019 on national security grounds.

Speaking to ABC, the camp’s director Hakmiyeh Ibrahim made an appeal to all countries that have citizens held in limbo there: “Take your citizens, take these children and women”.

The children especially are growing up surrounded by “dangerous ideas and ideologies” in the camp, she said. “The more time passes, the more complicated the situation becomes.”

Several of these camps have made headlines as the women and children living in them are severely malnourished and lack access to basic resources.

Several other foreign governments - including France, the Netherlands, and the UK - have also refused to repatriate most of their citizens still held in Syria.

Source:adaderana.lk

All seven people on board an air ambulance were killed when the aircraft crashed near Simaria in Jharkhand’s Chatra district on Monday evening. The flight was en route from Ranchi to Delhi when the accident occurred, a top state government official said.

“All seven on board the air ambulance were killed in the crash. The plane was on the way to Delhi from Ranchi,” Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G told news agency PTI.

The aircraft, operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, took off from Ranchi airport at 7:11 pm. According to Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G, the plane went missing around 7:30 pm and later crashed in the Bariatu Panchayat area of Simaria, a densely forested region.

Victims Identified

Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Shubham Khandelwal confirmed to PTI that all seven bodies had been recovered. The victims were identified as:

• Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat
• Captain Savrajdeep Singh
• Sanjay Kumar
• Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta
• Sachin Kumar Mishra
• Archana Devi
• Dhuru Kumar

Patient Was Being Shifted For Better Treatment

According to Anant Sinha, CEO of Devkamal Hospital in Ranchi, the air ambulance had been arranged for Sanjay Kumar (41), a resident of Latehar district. He had been admitted on February 16 with 65% burn injuries and was under treatment at the hospital.

A family member of the patient said they had chosen an air ambulance because his condition was too serious for a road journey. Vijay Kumar, a relative, said that the doctor had warned them that the patient might not survive a trip by road.

“We tried to take him (the patient) by road, but the doctor said we couldn’t. He told us the patient might collapse on the way,” Vijay Kumar told reporters. “The doctor said that if we could arrange an air ambulance, then we could take him. So we decided to take him by air ambulance.”

“Later, we saw on the news that the plane had crashed,” he added.

Severe Weather Reported At The Time Of Crash

Local residents reported that at the time of the crash, the area was experiencing strong winds, heavy rain, lightning, and loud thunder. They said the plane crashed with a loud sound during the stormy weather.

Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar said the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control roughly 20 minutes after takeoff. While bad weather might have contributed to the crash, he emphasized that the exact cause will be known only after a full investigation.

“Inclement weather could be a reason behind the crash, but the actual cause will be ascertained only after a probe,” he told PTI.

A Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) statement confirmed that the Redbird Airways Beechcraft C90 aircraft (VT-AJV), operating a medical evacuation flight, lost communication and radar contact with Kolkata after 7:34 pm, around 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi.

“On 23.02.2026 Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd Beechcraft C90 aircraft VT-AJV operating medical evacuation (Air Ambulance) flight on sector Ranchi-Delhi crashed in Kasaria Panchayat of Chatra district, in Jharkhand. There were seven people on board, including two crew members. The aircraft was airborne from Ranchi at 19:11 IST. After establishing contact with Kolkata at 19:34 IST, aircraft lost communication and RADAR contact with Kolkata at approximately 100 NM South-East of Varanasi,” DGCA said.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team will arrive in Chatra at 1:00 pm to investigate the plane crash. The black box is expected to reveal the cause of the incident. All the bodies of the victims have been recovered and sent to hospital for post-mortem.

Redbird Airways, owned by Akshay Yadav, was established in 2018 and received its permit to serve non-scheduled flights in 2019, according to its website. It has six planes in the fleet, including the one which crashed on Monday evening, as per the DGCA website.

 (Source:newswire.lk)

Ukrainian officials will boycott the Paralympic Winter Games, Kyiv said on Wednesday (Feb 18), after the International Paralympic Committee allowed Russian athletes to compete under their national flag.

Ukraine also urged other countries to shun the opening ceremony in Verona on Mar 6, in part of a growing standoff between Kyiv and international sporting federations four years since Russia’s invasion.

Six Russians and four Belarusians will be allowed to take part under their own flags at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics rather than as neutral athletes, the Games’ governing body confirmed to AFP on Tuesday.

Russia has been mostly banned from international sport since Moscow invaded Ukraine. The IPC’s decision triggered fury in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s sports minister Matviy Bidny called the decision “outrageous”, and accused Russia and Belarus of turning “sport into a tool of war, lies, and contempt”.

“Ukrainian public officials will not attend the Paralympic Games. We will not be present at the opening ceremony,” he said on social media.

“We will not take part in any other official Paralympic events,” he added.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said he had instructed Kyiv’s ambassadors to urge other countries to also shun the opening ceremony.

“Allowing the flags of aggressor states to be raised at the Paralympic Games while Russia’s war against Ukraine rages on is wrong - morally and politically,” Sybiga said on social media.

The EU’s sports commissioner Glenn Micallef said he would also skip the opening ceremony.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani of Italy, which is hosting the Games, joined the criticism and called on the IPC to reconsider its decision.

KYIV DEMANDS APOLOGY

The IPC’s decision came amid already heightened tensions between Ukraine and the International Olympic Committee, which is overseeing the Winter Olympics currently underway.

The IOC banned Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych for refusing to ditch a helmet depicting victims of the war with Russia.

Ukraine was further angered that the woman chosen to carry the “Ukraine” name card and lead its team out during the opening ceremony of the Games was revealed to be Russian.

Media reports called the woman an anti-Kremlin Russian woman living in Milan for years.

“Picking a Russian person to carry the nameplate is despicable,” Kyiv’s foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said at a briefing in response to a question by AFP.

He called it a “severe violation of the Olympic Charter” and demanded an apology.

And Kyiv was also riled earlier this month by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino saying he believed it was time to reinstate Russia into international football.

“WAR, LIES AND CONTEMPT”
Valeriy Sushkevych, president of the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee, told AFP on Tuesday that Kyiv’s athletes would not boycott the Paralympics.

Ukraine traditionally performs strongly at the Winter Paralympics, coming second in the medals table four years ago in Beijing.

“If we do not go, it would mean allowing Putin to claim a victory over Ukrainian Paralympians and over Ukraine by excluding us from the Games,” said the 71-year-old in an interview.

“That will not happen!”

Russia was awarded two slots in alpine skiing, two in cross-country skiing and two in snowboarding. The four Belarusian slots are all in cross-country skiing.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said earlier that those athletes would be “treated like (those from) any other country”.

The IPC unexpectedly lifted its suspension on Russian and Belarusian athletes at the organisation’s general assembly in September.

Source: adaderana.lk

The European Commission on Sunday demanded that the United States respect the terms of a trade deal reached last July.

The call from Brussels comes after US President Donald Trump said he was raising a global 10% tariff to 15% in response to the US Supreme Court blocking many of his emergency tariffs.

The court decision has cast uncertainty over the ratification of the deal, which had been put on hold and was to be approved by the European Parliament on Tuesday.

What did the EU Commission say about the terms of the US trade deal?

The Commission called for Washington to provide “full clarity” on the measures it plans to implement following the Supreme Court ruling.

“EU companies and exporters must have fair treatment, predictability and legal certainty,” the Commission said.

“The current situation is not conducive to delivering ‘fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial’ transatlantic trade and investment, as agreed to by both sides,” it said, pointing to the deal reached by the US and the EU last year. “A ​deal is a deal.”

“In particular, EU products must ​continue to benefit ⁠from the most competitive treatment, with no increases in tariffs beyond the clear and all-inclusive ⁠ceiling previously agreed,” it said.

In an earlier statement issued on Friday, the Commission said it was studying the potential effects of the court’s decision.

What was the trade deal between the US and the EU?

Trump imposed tariffs on multiple countries shortly after he took office in January 2025, in a bid to reduce the US trade deficit and boost manufacturing in the country.

In July 2025, Trump threatened to impose a 30% tariff on all EU goods.

After negotiations between Brussels and Washington, the two sides reached a deal setting tariffs of 15% on most EU exports to the US. It would also require the EU to buy $750 billion (€636.5 billion) of US energy products through 2028.

EU officials later put the ratification of the deal on hold in response to Trump’s push for the US to take over of Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of EU member state Denmark.

(Source:newswire.lk)

The Vatican will not participate in U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” initiative, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s top diplomatic official, said on Tuesday while adding that efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations.

Pope Leo, the first U.S. pope and a critic of some of Trump’s policies, was invited to join the board in January.

Under Trump’s Gaza plan that led to a fragile ceasefire in October, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said the board, with him as chair, would be expanded to tackle global conflicts. The board will hold its first meeting in Washington on Thursday to discuss Gaza’s reconstruction.

Italy and the European Union have said their representatives plan to attend as observers as they have not joined the board.

The Holy See “will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States,” Parolin said.

“One concern,” he said, “is that at the international level it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”

Many rights experts say that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s affairs resembled a colonial structure. The board launched last month has also faced criticism for not including a Palestinian.

Countries have reacted cautiously to Trump’s invitation, with experts concerned that the board could undermine the U.N. Some of Washington’s Middle Eastern allies have joined but its Western allies have stayed away so far.

The Gaza truce has been repeatedly violated with hundreds of Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since it began in October.

Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 72,000, caused a hunger crisis and internally displaced Gaza’s entire population.

Multiple rights experts, scholars and a U.N. inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defense after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in a late 2023 attack.

Leo has repeatedly decried conditions in Gaza. The pope, leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, rarely joins international boards. The Vatican has an extensive diplomatic service and is a permanent observer at the United Nations.

Source:adaderana.lk

The Mexican army on Sunday killed Mexican drug lord Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.”

Oseguera headed the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

What do we know about the raid that killed Oseguera?

Oseguera was wounded during a raid in the town of Tapalpa in western Jalisco state and died while being flown to Mexico City, the Mexican army said in a statement.

It said four members of the cartel were killed in the raid and three more, including Oseguera, died of their wounds while being transferred to the Mexican capital.

Two more people were arrested. Armored vehicles, rocket launchers and other arms were seized.

Earlier on Sunday, armed men set cars and trucks on fire in Jalisco state to block the advance of security forces during the operation.

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau welcomed the killing as a “great development for Mexico, ​US, Latin America, and the world.”

The US State Department warned US citizens in the states of Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Guerrero and Neuvo Leon to remain in safe places due to ongoing security operations.

The United States had offered a $15 million bounty for his capture.

Mexico’s Embassy in Washington, DC, said that the United States had provided information that aided in the raid that led to Oseguera’s death.

“In ‌addition to ​central military intelligence efforts, complementary information was ​provided by U.S. authorities within the ⁠framework ​of ​bilateral coordination and ​cooperation with the ‌United States,” it said in a post on X.

Airlines cancel dozens of flights to Mexico

The killing of Oseguera sparked several hours of roadblocks and burning vehicles in Jalisco and other states. Cartels commonly use such tactics to block military operations.

The state of Jalisco canceled school for Monday. Governor Pablo Lemus also urged residents to stay home and suspended public transportation. An outbreak of violence also led to the suspension of multiple football games.

Meanwhile, US and Canadian airlines canceled dozens of flights to parts of Mexico following the killing of Oseguera and the subsequent violence.

US airlines Alaska, United, and Southwest, as well as Canadian airlines WestJet and Air Canada, announced the suspension of flights to destinations including Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara, and Manzanillo.

In a post on X, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged citizens to remain calm, stating that the central government was coordinating with state authorities in response to the violence.

Who are ‘El Mencho’ and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel?

The US Justice Department considers the cartel, which was founded in 2009, to be one of Mexico’s most violent drug trafficking organizations.

It is one of the main suppliers of cocaine to the United States and also produces fentanyl and methamphetamines.

Oseguera was convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin by a California court in 1994 and served a prison sentence of nearly three years. After his release from prison, he returned to Mexico and continued to engage in cartel activity.

He has been indicted several times in a District of Columbia court, including a 2022 indictment for conspiracy and distribution of controlled substances and use of firearms in connection with drug trafficking offenses.

Sheinbaum under pressure to deal with cartel crime

While Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has been critical of the “kingpin” strategy focused on killing cartel leaders in the past, she has been under increasing pressure to show results in the fight against drug trafficking since US President Donald Trump took office for his second term in January 2025.

Trump has vowed to “wage war” on Latin American drug cartels and has not ruled out carrying out US military strikes on targets in Mexico or deploying troops there.

Trump’s administration designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a terrorist organization in February.

(Source:newswire.lk)

US President Donald Trump, citing “tremendous interest,” said he was directing the Pentagon and other government agencies to release files related to extraterrestrials and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

He said the agencies should include “any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”

He made the announcement on social media on Thursday, hours after accusing former President Barack Obama of disclosing “classified information” when he suggested in a podcast interview that aliens were real.

“I don’t know if they’re real or not,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. When asked of Obama, he said: “I may get him out of trouble by declassifying.”

What did Obama say about aliens in the podcast?

In a podcast released last week, Obama said he believed aliens were real, but he had not seen any evidence of them during his presidency.

“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them and they’re not being kept in… Area 51,” he told host Brian Tyler Cohen, referring to the top-secret facility at the heart of many UFO conspiracies.

Once his comments quickly went viral, the ex-president took to clarify on Instagram.

“Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” he said. “But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”

Aliens and Area 51

Public interest in extraterrestrials, unidentified flying objects and unidentified aerial phenomena has prompted several conspiracy theories over the years.

Several internet chat rooms and social media accounts dedicate themselves to solving this mystery, and many insist the US government knows more than it lets on.

It is what gave birth to the “Storm Area 51” event, where about 100 people gathered at the entrance to the secretive US military base “to see them aliens.”

This interest was renewed in recent years as the US government investigated several reports of what appeared to be supernatural aircraft. However, in March 2024, the Pentagon released a report saying it had no proof the aerial phenomenon was alien technology. 

The United States has deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and supporting warships to Middle Eastern waters amid tensions with Iran following its crackdown on anti-government demonstrations. Tensions between Washington and Tehran remain high following Iran's crackdown on protestors. 

USS Abraham Lincoln has crossed into the Middle East, along with several guided-missile destroyers. The warships come under the Central Command of the US military, officials told Reuters.

US President Donald Trump threatened last week to step in in favour of the protestors, saying that the US had “an armada” moving towards Iran, but hoped he would not have to use it, as per Reuters.

What Is USS Abraham?

The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) is the fifth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier of the United States. Built by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, it was named in honour of the 16th US president and is the second ship in the US Navy to carry his name, Airpac Navy reported.

Homeported in San Diego, California, the USS Abraham has around 2,300 compartments, 600 tanks, catapults, combat systems, and various other systems. Weapons on board the USS Abraham Lincoln include two RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile short-range surface-to-air missile launchers,  two Mk 57 Mod3 SeaSparrow surface-to-air missile launchers and three Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS).

The carrier is fitted with SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo countermeasures systems and an SLQ-32A(V)4 countermeasures suite. Two Westinghouse A4W class nuclear reactors power the four steam turbines that propel the Nimitz-class vessel. The USS Abraham can achieve a maximum speed of 30k.

At 1,092ft (332.8m) long, the vessel has a flight deck measuring 4.5 acres. The USS Abraham Lincoln can accommodate up to 5,680 people and carry 90 aircraft.

The vessel carries nine squadrons, consisting of an E-2 Hawkeye early-warning fixed wing, one EA-6B Prowler, two Super Hornet fighter bombers, two Hornet fighter bombers, one Greyhound logistical support aircraft, and two SH-60 Seahawk attack helicopters, as per Naval Technology.

What's Reason Behind US Deployment?

The United States has sent forces into the Middle East during times of heightened tensions in moves that were often defensive. However, the US military staged a major buildup ahead of strikes against Iran's nuclear program in June last year. In addition to the USS Abraham and warships, the Pentagon is also moving air-defence systems and fighter jets to the Middle East.

What Iran Said

Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry, warned of a "comprehensive and regret-inducing response to any aggression" on Monday. In an apparent reference to the USS Abraham, he stated, "The arrival of such a battleship is not going to affect Iran's determination and seriousness to defend the Iranian nation."

The anti-government protests in Iran, which started in late December, were driven by economic grievances, but turned into a mass movement against the sitting government. A US-based rights group said on Monday that almost 6,000 people had died in the protests suppressed by Iran's security forces, adding that the actual toll could be several times higher.

( Source: NDTV)