A new U.S. aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the Middle East, the military announced Thursday, after conditions aboard a long-deployed carrier provoked fresh criticism of President Donald Trump's war against Iran.
"The George Washington Carrier Strike Group is operating in Middle East during a scheduled deployment after arriving in the CENTCOM theater yesterday," Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, said in a post on the social media platform X.
The update comes just days after media reports on grim conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier had created an unwelcome distraction for Trump in his attempt to sell the already unpopular war.
The Lincoln's deployment has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days.
Several outlets, including specialist military publications, quoted relatives of crew members as saying that living conditions had deteriorated on the carrier, with food shortages and broken plumbing.
Notably, there have been reports of several suicide attempts.
Trump dismissed the concerns but confirmed another carrier would swap out with the Lincoln.
Several Democratic lawmakers are pressing for accountability from the Pentagon over conditions aboard the carrier, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said were “completely misrepresented."
While renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran have calmed in recent weeks, the U.S. Navy has reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration has offered no clarity on how it intends to wind down the war.
Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. can maintain the blockade "indefinitely."
The Japan-based USS George Washington had been operating in the Pacific.
Its transfer means there is no longer any U.S. aircraft carrier in that region – a boon for an assertive China.
The Lincoln had departed California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran that began in late February.
