Latest war news. Bessent: ‘Unprecedented measures against Iran to be taken soon, including economic isolation and port closures’

“Over the past 48 hours, several media outlets have reported a series of false stories regarding the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Middle East. According to one report, seven sailors are said to have died in a brawl on board the aircraft carrier, whilst other sources have recently suggested an increase in suicidal thoughts. These reports are false.” This was posted on social media by the US Central Command (Centcom) after several Iranian media outlets reported in recent days that seven American sailors had been killed and many others injured in a violent clash aboard the Abraham Lincoln, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that has been engaged in the conflict with Iran for months.

According to Iranian media, this report is linked to latent discontent amongst a crew that has been put under severe strain by one of the longest continuous deployments of an aircraft carrier in modern American naval history. However, this account has now been denied on social media by Centcom, which emphasises that “the widespread circulation of false reports regarding the historic deployment of the Abraham Lincoln is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and their loved ones”.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has threatened to subject Iran to economic isolation “the likes of which the world has never seen before”, adding that new measures are due to be introduced from next week.

“It will be a combination of economic isolation, the likes of which the world has never seen before,” Bessent said on the programme “Rob Schmitt Tonight” on the conservative television channel Newsmax, adding that “the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz... will prevent anything from entering or leaving Iranian ports”.