Iran’s vow to avenge its “martyred” sailors has exploded into a direct clash with a U.S. aircraft carrier group. Tehran claims its forces fired a coast‑to‑sea missile toward the USS Abraham Lincoln after earlier drone attacks forced the warship to pull back from waters near Iran. The missile launch, announced by Iranian media citing the army’s public relations office, marks a dangerous new escalation at sea in the wider Operation True Promise 4 campaign. Tehran says the strike follows what it brands a “cowardly” U.S. torpedo attack on the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which was returning from India’s MILAN 2026 naval exercise when it was sunk in international waters off Sri Lanka, killing scores of cadets and sailors.