Concern about living conditions on a US aircraft carrier that has been deployed in the Middle East for more than 250 days is leading a US senator to demand answers from the military about the vessel and putting more pressure on the Trump administration over the Iran war.
Reports suggest US military members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are living with food shortages and broken plumbing and that there have been suicide attempts.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday called the reports “completely misrepresented”.
The carrier left San Diego in November for the South China Sea and was then sent to the Middle East ahead of the attacks on Iran in February. No return date has been announced.
“There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months,” Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said on Thursday.