These are the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS John C. Stennis, two of the 10 nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft supercarriers in service with the US Navy. They just arrived to the Strait of Hormuz as tension keeps mounting up in the area.
The Strait of Hormuz is an extremely important geographic point. Forty per cent of the world’s oil passes through this strait on its way out of the Persian Gulf. Whoever controls this pass, would be able to inflict great damage to the world’s economy.
According to the Washington Post, an Iranian lawmaker is now proposing to close the strait in retaliation against the oil embargo recently approved by the European Union, which has followed the United States in their sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program.
The arrival of these ships comes shortly after the Iranians tested new missiles capable of hitting American military bases and ships in the area. [United States Navy’s Flickr]