The United States has moved another aircraft carrier into the waters near the Strait of Hormuz, amid growing tensions between Washington and Tehran over the strategically vital waterway.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the USS George Washington entered the command’s area of responsibility on August 19 and is now operating in the Arabian Sea as part of a planned deployment.
CENTCOM released a photograph of the carrier’s crew on August 20, confirming its arrival in the region.
The deployment comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that Washington has control over the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran has maintained that the waterway will remain closed until the United States meets conditions set by Tehran.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most strategically important maritime passages, connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the wider Arabian Sea.
According to reports by The Wall Street Journal, CNN and NBC News, the USS George Washington is being deployed to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln. CNN, citing a U.S. official, reported that the move had been planned in advance.
The rotation comes after months of extended deployment for the Abraham Lincoln, which left San Diego in November 2025 and has spent more than eight months at sea. The carrier has reportedly gone more than 200 consecutive days without making a substantial port visit.
Reports have also raised concerns about shortages of food and supplies, technical problems, declining morale and mental-health pressures among the crew.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rejected those reports as “completely distorted,” saying the military was doing everything possible to support the sailors aboard the carrier.
While the Pentagon has described the carrier movement as part of a planned rotation, its arrival comes against a backdrop of increasingly tense rhetoric over Hormuz, giving the deployment broader strategic significance as Washington and Tehran remain at odds over control of the vital maritime route.
