Iran navy chief threatens to sink USS Abraham Lincoln with sea-to-sea missiles if it enters firing range

Iran's navy chief Rear Admiral Shahram Irani issued a direct threat against the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group: 'As soon as the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group comes within firing range, we will avenge the blood of the martyrs of the Dena warship by launching various types of sea-to-sea missiles,' he was quoted as saying by Iranian state TV. The Dena was an Iranian Moudge-class frigate sunk by US forces during a naval engagement on Day 5 (March 4). The threat invokes that loss as justification — framing any Lincoln approach as a revenge trigger. The USS Abraham Lincoln is the primary US carrier strike group in the region, operating in the Arabian Sea/Gulf of Oman area. Combined with the simultaneous deployment of the USS Tripoli ARG (3,500 Marines for potential Hormuz ground ops), the Lincoln CSG represents the US's main strike aviation platform in the theater. Iran's sea-to-sea missile capability includes Noor (C-802 variant) anti-ship missiles with ~170km range, plus Qadir and Khalij Fars ballistic anti-ship missiles with ~300km range — giving Iran strike options from coastal positions without exposing surface vessels.