Iran War Updates: Trump dismisses concerns about U.S. warship, says nearly 9-month deployment "not nearly long enough"

The disputed Strait of Hormuz "will remain Iranian," a Tehran official said in response to President Trump's earlier declaration that the strait would become "a territory of the United States."

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, wrote on X early Saturday morning local time that the strait "cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech. Iran neither fears threats nor cowers before displays of power."

Mr. Trump's statement was made during a rally in New York Friday.

For days, Iran and Oman have been engaged in talks over the management of commercial traffic through the strait, the vital waterway through which about 20% of the world's oil supply passes.

Iranian officials have also previously said that reopening the strait is contingent on the U.S. ending its blockade of Iranian ports, which was reimposed after the fragile ceasefire between the two sides collapsed last month.

"This strait will only be closed and opened under Iran's command," Gharibabadi said.

A Navy official told CBS News Friday that it is sending additional counselors and social workers to the USS Abraham Lincoln after families of service members voiced concerns about mental health issues aboard the aircraft carrier, which has been deployed for almost nine months.

"The Navy is working to send additional resiliency counselors and social workers to augment the already robust mental health resources available to the crew 24/7," the official said.

The Lincoln currently has five Navy chaplains, one clinical psychologist, one clinical social worker, three behavioral health technicians and an integrated prevention coordination counselor aboard at this time, the official said.

Earlier Friday, a U.S. official told CBS News that the USS George Washington aircraft carrier is headed to the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln.

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said in a statement Friday there have been a small number of mental health cases on the USS Abraham Lincoln that were treated with no loss of life.

The aircraft carrier has been deployed for almost nine months and in recent weeks, some families have voiced concerns about conditions on the ship.

"There is no question our young men and women have been pushed to their limits—but they have never broken," Cao said on social media. "They are rightly tired—but have never been out of the fight. However, it is clear, knowing the whole story, our force and their families are not victims. They are the epitome of American strength and resilience."

President Trump vowed to declare the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory during a rally in New York as Iran and the U.S. clash over control of the key waterway.

"After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States," the president said.

The Strait of Hormuz is split between Iranian and Omani territorial waters at its narrowest point, but it has traditionally been treated as an open waterway.

Since the U.S.-Iran war began, Iran has sought control over the strait. It has demanded that ships seek permission and sail near the Iranian coastline before transiting the waterway, causing shipping traffic to plummet, and it has weighed charging tolls. Trump administration officials have rejected the idea of Iranian tolls, though Mr. Trump has floated U.S. tolls.

A military official from Yemen's internationally recognized government said a Houthi strike Friday on the port city of Mokha killed six people, while the Iran-backed rebels said they had also attacked a Saudi oil installation.

A yearslong truce in Yemen's civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed authorities appeared to collapse last month, with the rebels carrying out deadly attacks on government-held areas.

The rebels have also declared a maritime blockade on Saudi ports, striking ships in the Red Sea and claiming strikes on oil infrastructure.

The Houthis "fired five missiles at commercial ships unloading at the port, and two ships are on fire," the Yemeni official said of the attack on Mokha, which was also hit earlier this week.

Two security personnel were among the six killed, the official said.

Houthi media, meanwhile, quoted a rebel military source as saying the group had attacked a Saudi Aramco site in Najran, in southwest Saudi Arabia, "by means of a drone, and the operation achieved its objective."

President Trump dismissed concerns Friday about the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed for almost nine months, most recently in the Middle East.

Asked by a reporter if the aircraft carrier's deployment has lasted too long, Mr. Trump said it hasn't.

"Not nearly long enough," the president said at Joint Base Andrews before heading to New York.

When the reporter told Mr. Trump that family members of U.S. service members are concerned about conditions on the ship, the president said, "No, they're not."

The president also noted that the ship was in the process of being relieved.

"That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship," he said.

The father of a sailor aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln said he's worried for his son and the rest of the ship's crew as the aircraft carrier's deployment to the Middle East stretches on.

"They should not be deployed this long," said Jefferson Kelley, whose son Jackson is aboard the Lincoln on his first-ever deployment. "These are old ships. It's not like they're even state-of-the-art. And they take a lot of maintenance, a lot of work. It's around the clock."

The ship has been at sea for nine months, much longer than the typical deployment of six months. Combat aircraft have launched from the carrier more than 10,000 times in the past eight months, U.S. officials say.

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Iraq's average daily oil exports since the beginning of August are the highest since the outbreak of the war between Iran and the United States, which has choked off the Strait of Hormuz, the oil ministry said Friday.

Iraqi Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Khudair told a press conference that "exports since the beginning of the month have reached a rate of two million barrels" per day, for a total of around 26 million barrels, saying the daily rate was achieved "for the first time since the crisis began."

A senior Iranian lawmaker said Friday that the United States must "leave the region," in comments carried by state broadcaster IRIB. 

"The Americans should leave the region without any doubt and accelerate this retreat and their flight," Iranian Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Ebrahim Azizi said before Friday prayers in Shiraz.

"The triad of surrender, partition and regime change was defeated in the face of the triad of popular resistance, steadfastness, resistance and courage, and the remarkable power of the armed forces," he said.

Azizi also said regional countries should not rely on Washington for security, adding: "The presence of the Americans in the region brings nothing but evil and insecurity."

Iran has rejected U.S. accusations that Tehran is destabilizing Yemen, saying recent Iranian flights to Sanaa were humanitarian in nature.

In a letter to the U.N. secretary-general and the president of the Security Council, Iran's U.N. envoy Gholamhossein Darzi said the flights were intended to help Yemenis affected by the prolonged closure and restrictions on Sanaa International Airport, according to a copy published by state broadcaster IRIB. 

In the letter published by Darzi, he accused Washington of attempting to mislead the Security Council and divert attention from its own actions in Yemen. He said millions of Yemenis have been deprived of essential travel, medical treatment, education and humanitarian assistance due to restrictions on the country.

Iran also called for an inclusive, peaceful, Yemeni-led political process under U.N. supervision, arguing lasting peace cannot be achieved through military escalation or pressure.

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have long been locked in conflict with the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. In recent weeks, the Houthis have attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea in an attempt to block passage of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait for Saudi vessels.

President Trump has directed future aircraft carriers to scrap their advanced systems for launching warplanes and return to using older but "proven" catapult technologies, which could dramatically drive up military costs.

Mr. Trump made the announcement Thursday as part of a national security presidential memorandum to "fix critical long-term issues in Navy shipbuilding and ship repair programs and restore capacity and competition to the maritime industrial base."

Recent conflicts, including the Iran war, have highlighted problems with aging Navy vessels and lengthy procurement periods.

The president bemoaned "an atrophied shipbuilding industrial base" which he said made building and repairing warships slower and more costly.

His order directs the Pentagon to draft a plan to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems for forthcoming aircraft carriers. The first ship affected will be the USS Doris Miller, the fourth Gerald R. Ford-class carrier which has a projected delivery date of 2034.

Sen. Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and retired U.S. Navy combat pilot, mocked Mr. Trump's order as unnecessary meddling in military operations.

"I've launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times, have a Master's degree in aeronautical engineering, and am a test pilot and even I wouldn't suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships," Kelly posted on X.

The USS George Washington aircraft carrier is headed to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, a U.S. official tells CBS News. The Lincoln has been deployed for almost nine months and in recent weeks, some families have voiced concerns about conditions on the ship. 

During a town hall with the acting Navy secretary last week, some families expressed frustration that he offered no update about when the carrier would come home. But the Navy does not usually publicly announce the exact timing of a carrier's movements in order to protect the ship's security. The USS Lincoln deployed in November 2025, first to the Pacific but then was sent to the Middle East ahead of the Iran war. 

At least one spouse during the town hall voiced concerns about the mental well-being of her partner, according to a person familiar with the events. Media reports this week quoted some family members who said they had heard multiple sailors had thought about jumping overboard. 

The Navy pushed back on the notion that there is a mental health crisis onboard. In a statement to CBS News, a Navy spokesperson said, "We have not identified an increase in reported suicidal ideation or suicide attempts aboard the ship. We take every service member's well-being seriously and have religious, medical and mental health professionals available to assess and address concerns as they arise." 

A Navy official told CBS News there has been a decrease in suicidal ideation cases as the deployment has gone on. 

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The U.S.-led coalition has intercepted at least three drones over the skies of Erbil, in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, according to the local counter-terror agency.

The interceptions happened early Friday, between 2:17 a.m. and 2:25 a.m. local time, when  coalition forces shot down three "bomb-laden drones," the Erbil-based Directorate General of Counter Terrorism said in a statement on X.

There were no casualties in the incident.

Erbil has been repeatedly attacked since hostilities between the U.S. and Iran resumed in early July. The city hosts American forces at Erbil Air Base, and an American consulate.

Major stock markets traded mixed in sparse summer trading Friday, with oil prices edging higher and the dollar slipping as investors assess the outlooks for U.S. interest rates and the war in the Middle East.

Data this week showing cooler inflation in the U.S. has bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve will not rush to raise borrowing costs, potentially crimping growth. But with the U.S.-Iran conflict showing little sign that it could soon end, worries about stubborn inflation dominated attention across markets.

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the country's top priority in the Iran war was to bring down gasoline prices for American consumers.

Energy prices on markets have in recent weeks swung between big gains and losses as resurgent strikes in the Middle East give way to hopes of a peace deal, and vice versa.

The country's Kospi index had tanked about 40% between hitting its June high and an intra-day trough on Aug. 6, but has since rebounded more than 20%.

Friday also saw gains for Tokyo, where tech giants Kioxia, Advantest and Sony rallied along with the technology investment titan SoftBank.

Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila and Wellington were also up, while Hong Kong, Sydney, Taipei and Mumbai slipped and Shanghai ended little changed.

In European midday deals, London dipped while Paris and Frankfurt rose, following gains on Wall Street on Thursday that saw the S&P 500 again hit a record high.

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman met Thursday with U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper. 

At the meeting, they discussed Saudi-U.S. defense cooperation, regional developments, and efforts to reduce tensions and strengthen security and stability in the region, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency, without going into specifics.

Iran has "complete and decisive" control over the Strait of Hormuz, according to the newly appointed commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' navy.

"We have complete and decisive control over movements," Rear Admiral Ali Azmaei said. "No activity in the Strait of Hormuz escapes the watch of the IRGC Navy's fighters." 

He added that "reality should be seen on the ground, not in the statements and declarations of U.S. officials."

Saudi Arabia condemned on Friday attacks on two tankers belonging to the state oil company of the United Arab Emirates, accusing Iran of being the perpetrator.

In a statement on X, the kingdom's foreign affairs ministry stressed "Saudi Arabia's strongest condemnation and denunciation of the targeting of two tankers belonging to the UAE's ADNOC [Abu Dhabi National Oil Company] company while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, in a rejected repetition of Iranian attacks targeting commercial ships and tankers."

Iran and its proxy, Yemen's Houthi rebels, have repeatedly targeted commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea. The U.S. military has also struck commercial tankers in the region.

The United Arab Emirates on Friday blamed Iran for attacks on two vessels linked to its state-owned oil company as they passed through the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier.

Iran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait, frequently attacking commercial ships, and wants to charge users for passage, which the U.S. fiercely opposes.

The UAE foreign ministry denounced what it called "the hostile Iranian attack" targeting two vessels affiliated with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) "with no injuries reported."

ADNOC confirmed "two of its vessels were attacked while transiting" the waterway on Thursday evening, adding the situation was "brought under control," the official WAM news agency reported.

On Friday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported two identical incidents of drone strikes on tankers in Hormuz a day earlier, causing minor damage but no casualties.

It was not clear whether they were referring to the ADNOC-affiliated ships.

"UKMTO has received reports from military authorities that a tanker was struck by a Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) whilst conducting an outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel was subject to minor damage, crew are reported as safe and accounted for and no environmental impact has been reported," it said in both statements.

Last week, ADNOC had said three of its tankers had been attacked in the strait, with the UAE foreign ministry reporting an attack on an ADNOC tanker a day later.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is threatening to subject Iran to economic isolation "like the world has never seen before," adding that new measures are expected next week.

"It will be a combination of economic isolation, like the world has never seen before," Bessent told conservative television network Newsmax Thursday, adding that "the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz ... will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports."

"Watch this space for more announcements coming next week," he said.

Bessent described a two-pronged approach featuring financial pressure and a physical blockade of the Islamic republic's ports.

Vice President JD Vance said earlier that the top U.S. priority in the Iran war was bringing oil and gasoline prices down for Americans, with preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon now ranking second.

The tougher stance contrasts with remarks by Bessent on Aug. 4, when he told CNBC an agreement with Tehran to reopen the strait could be reached within days.

The U.S. military's Central Command called a spate of news reports about dire conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier "false."

The ship has been deployed for almost nine months, and is currently in the Middle East region. Lawmakers and family members have raised concerns about supply shortages, inadequate food, broken plumbing and mental health issues — and earlier this month, a sailor went overboard and was recovered, the Navy told CBS News.

In a post on X, CENTCOM said service members "remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 aircraft flights, and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance expended."

"No service members aboard the aircraft carrier have died, and the one Sailor who fell overboard Aug. 3 was quickly and safely recovered," CENTCOM added. "The rampant misreporting on Abraham Lincoln's historic deployment is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and their loved ones."

President Trump's envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner is planning to travel to Jerusalem and Cairo next week, according to an official with the Board of Peace, the Trump-backed body that is pushing for a resolution to the Israel-Hamas conflict — as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes back on the board's plan.

Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Board of Peace Director-General Nickolay Mladenov will accompany Kushner, the official said.

The official says they will continue the "constructive" conversations they've been having on how to advance Mr. Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan, which calls for the militant group Hamas to disarm and give up any role in governing Gaza while Israeli forces withdraw from the enclave.

Late last month, Mr. Trump announced Hamas and the Board of Peace had agreed on the next steps in his peace plan, with Hamas giving up its arms in stages and Israeli forces withdrawing from parts of Gaza as "disarmament is completed." The Board of Peace laid out a 15-point roadmap covering the withdrawal and disarmament.

But last weekend, Netanyahu said Israel "rejects the 15-point document," saying the military "will not make any withdrawal until Hamas is truly disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and citizens."

During their visit to the region, the three Board of Peace representatives plan to hear the concerns that have been raised, and talk about next steps, the Board of Peace official said. 

In Cairo, there are meetings planned with Egyptian officials and other mediators.

Asked about the Iran war, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News' Will Cain that "goal number one" for the Trump administration is to "keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country," followed by ensuring "Iran never gets a nuclear weapon."

"I feel confident we're accomplishing both of those goals, but it's inherently an unpredictable thing because the Iranians themselves are unpredictable, and they sometimes don't honor the commitments they've made to us," Vance said.

As oil shipments remain largely blocked in the Strait of Hormuz, global oil prices are currently above pre-war levels but below their heights during the war's early weeks. The Trump administration has pressed Iran to allow ships to pass through the strait, but Iran has said it plans to hold onto some control of the vital waterway.

The benchmark for U.S. crude oil, West Texas Intermediate, stood at around $81 per barrel for next month's deliveries as of 5 p.m. Thursday, compared to less than $70 in February and over $110 in April. 

The price of gasoline is also elevated, averaging $4.07 per gallon nationwide, compared to $3.16 a year ago, according to AAA. In May, the price surpassed $4.50 per gallon.