August 14, 2026 — Carrier group headed to Middle East to replace USS Lincoln, US official says | CNN

Get the latest updates on the war with Iran here. • Iran war: US President Donald Trump said Friday he would “never apologize” for taking military action against Iran. “I did the right thing,” he said, arguing higher gas prices have been worth it in pursuit of preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon. • Strait of Hormuz: Traffic through the critical waterway remains at a fraction of pre-war levels, according to a UKMTO report. Trump said he plans to declare the strait a US territory after “we finish defeating Iran,” while Iran’s deputy foreign minister countered that it “cannot be seized with a tweet.” • US carrier concerns: A second sailor deployed with the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group went overboard last spring, according to US officials. The report comes as the US sends another carrier group to the Middle East to replace the Lincoln, a US official told CNN, adding that the swap was planned. Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz was 17% of the pre-conflict average in the past seven days, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre. Control of the critical waterway has become the focus of the war recently, with US Pre