Iran Calls USS Gerald R. Ford Support Centers Legitimate Targets

As the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford seeks shelter at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah port, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned that any logistics and service facilities supporting the ship in the Red Sea are now valid targets for Iranian military forces.

The American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the Red Sea poses a direct threat to the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

The spokesperson underlined that the military forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran view the logistical and service facilities supporting the aforementioned carrier group in the Red Sea as targets.

Rather than just the ship itself, the alert particularly targets the supply routes and maintenance facilities that support the carrier’s operations.

As part of a larger American military reinforcement amid rising tensions following the US-Israeli aggression against Iran on February 28, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the largest and most modern supercarrier in the US Navy, crossed the Suez Canal on March 6 and reached the Red Sea.

The 100,000-ton ship has been operating about 100 kilometers off the coast of Saudi Arabia, according to satellite footage made public by the Chinese commercial geospatial company MizarVision. Recent reports indicate that it may have moved closer to Jeddah.

The strike group, which includes guided-missile destroyers, travels with the carrier.

The Ford has already spent more than 255 days at sea, and this deployment is its first operational assignment in the Middle East since it was commissioned in 2017.

This is not the Ford’s first warning.