A second carrier heads for the Middle East as Hormuz traffic and oil slicks tighten
The George Washington turns for the Middle East as the Lincoln passes 260 days at sea. Hormuz traffic falls to 9 ships as Washington promises isolation. The Caroline Bezengi slick reaches about 2,000 square kilometres.
Geopolitics··Night
Lincoln's 260 days, George Washington's route
The USS George Washington left Da Nang in Vietnam. It is transiting the Singapore Strait and the Strait of Malacca towards the Indian Ocean and the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln, which sailed from San Diego on 21 November and reached the region in January, has now spent more than 260 days at sea against an original return date in May. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ruben Gallego have pressed the Navy over reports of food shortages and broken plumbing aboard the Lincoln. Central Command said the strike group remains resilient and resolved after 10,000 aircraft flights. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said every ship, crew and captain has everything the department can provide. The second carrier's route overlaps with Lincoln's long deployment, but the report does not say what role George Washington will take in relation to Lincoln. With Lincoln still at sea and George Washington heading towards the Middle East, the carriers' next deployment pattern remains uncertain.[1]
Nine ships and economic isolation
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would apply measures like none seen in the history of economic isolation. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Navy could hold the blockade indefinitely by rotating ships. Ship-tracking data showed 9 vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday against a pre-war daily average above 130. Two vessels owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked on Thursday evening while transiting the strait. The UAE government blamed Iran, which made no immediate comment. No crossings were visible early on Friday. A senior Iranian source said talks to build on the June ceasefire had shown no progress. Tehran's conditions, the source added, include the removal of sanctions and the release of frozen assets. Falling transit counts, attack allegations and isolation language keep the strait together in the same day's picture. Traffic down to nine ships, a promise to rotate the blockade and isolation language turn the strait into a military and financial squeeze at once.[2]
A 2,000-square-kilometre slick
Satellite monitoring group SkyTruth put the slick from the grounded tanker Caroline Bezengi, which is leaking Russian crude off Oman, at about 2,000 square kilometres. Two further slicks have appeared in Iranian waters near Qeshm and Sirri islands, one of them stretching around 160 km. SkyTruth chief executive John Amos called it the biggest slick he had seen since the conflict between Iran and the United States began. Brian Barnes of the University of South Florida said the longer the oil leaks, the further it spreads and the more damage it does to ecosystems and coastlines. The vessel grounded in a protected marine area outside the Strait of Hormuz. The measured slick, the further slicks and the protected-area record place the spill in the same week as the carrier route and the narrowed transit. The second carrier's route, Hormuz traffic down to nine ships and a slick at about 2,000 square kilometres force the Gulf crisis to be read in the same week as force posture, narrowed transit and environmental cost. While blockade and isolation language narrow transit, the slick's scale stands as separate evidence of the cost reaching coasts and a protected marine area.[3], [2], [1]
