War Secretary Pete Hegseth tells returning carrier crew the US decided to share the ocean with the Iranian navy, we gave them the bottom half, after sinking or damaging over 120 Iranian vessels
US War Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a striking remark this week about the war with Iran, referring with dark humor to the devastating blow dealt to the Iranian navy during the conflict.
The comments came Tuesday (October 7) during a welcome-home ceremony for the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which returned to the United States after an extended deployment. Hegseth praised the crew for their work in the war against Iran, then moved to describing the mission's milestones.
Among his remarks, Hegseth said:
"To destroy the enemy as you did. You know, you made a deal. You were central to the deal we made with the Iranian navy before this conflict. We decided to share the ocean with the Iranian navy, they got the bottom half."
He listed the achievements of the carrier's deployment and its strike group, including approximately 10,000 sorties, roughly 23,000 operational flight hours, and nearly 4,000 combat sorties, alongside the delivery of approximately 1.5 million pounds of ordnance. According to Hegseth, the operations were carried out without a single aircraft accident during the mission.
The line is not new for Hegseth. On March 19, during a Pentagon briefing, he said the United States "decided to share the ocean with Iran" and that "we gave them the bottom half." At that briefing, he claimed American forces had struck or sunk more than 120 Iranian naval vessels, and that the Iranian navy had ceased to be a significant factor in the theater. It remains to be seen whether the US military will indeed honor and enforce the stated "deal."
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