Hegseth says the Strait of Hormuz blockade will last “as long as necessary”
Secretary of State Pete Hegseth has warned that the Strait of Hormuz blockade will remain in place until Iran abandons its nuclear ambitions under pressure from the United States.
This is the information the proud parents of U.S. Navy sailors don’t want to hear. Their children may be eating terrible food during the war in the Middle East.
Heartbreaking photos of meals served to service members aboard two major U.S. warships fighting the Iran war were shared with USA TODAY by the families of those involved, sparking an online outcry and the anger of some national leaders. And families and friends of sailors and Marines continue to worry that the meals provided to their loved ones deployed at sea are not nourishing and adequately nourishing them.
The Pentagon denies there was a food problem on board. But the family photos and claims remain unexplained, prompting at least one U.S. lawmaker to call for a congressional investigation.
Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., posted on social media: “This is completely unacceptable. Congress must investigate.” “The world’s most powerful military is unable to adequately feed its own troops.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said President Donald Trump is “spending billions of dollars every day on an illegal war with Iran while our soldiers on the front lines say they are starving.”
USA TODAY first reported earlier this month about concerns from the families of sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Tripoli, aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships fighting the Iran war. A photo shared with USA TODAY showed two service members holding a half-empty cafeteria tray. One contained a small scoop of wet shredded meat and a tortilla, the other a handful of boiled carrots, a dry burger, and slices of mysterious gray spam-like meat.
The Navy continues to deny that there is a food shortage on the two ships. “Both USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli have sufficient food onboard to provide healthy options for their crews,” the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations wrote in an April 17 post to X.
Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a statement to X that the USA TODAY report read, “More fake news from the Pharisee news agency…My team has reviewed the logistics statistics for the Lincoln and Tripoli. Both ships have more than 30 days of Class I supplies (food) on board.”
In the weeks since USA TODAY’s report, more family members and friends of the sailors and Marines on the two ships have reached out to express concerns about the food their loved ones are eating.
The mother of a USS Abraham Lincoln crew member said she was worried that her son had lost 20 pounds since his deployment began several months ago. At one recent meal, she said, he ate a square of dried meat on a small piece of rice, and at another he ate a different colored burger patty with liquid nacho cheese. One man said a close friend who was on the USS Tripoli told him he was too weak to exercise, so he sent him protein powder.
Newsweek obtained more photos of a barren food tray aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, containing two eggs, slimy porridge, and other meager meals.
A Navy statement, also reported by USA TODAY, said the suspension of mail delivery to the ship has been lifted. Family members and community members told USA TODAY they packed boxes full of snacks and high-calorie foods to shore up their poor diet.
Two defense officials told USA TODAY that the mail embargo was quietly lifted a week after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a ceasefire on April 7, but one of the officials said it could still be some time before the packages reach the ships.
“Extreme situation”
Former Navy officials said photos of the members’ subpar meals were significantly worse than the quality of their meals during their time in the Navy.
“It shows you’re serious about something you don’t normally get,” said retired Maj. Gen. Mike Smith, who commanded a carrier strike group on an aircraft carrier in the Middle East, after seeing the photo.
“You were expecting to be restocked and it wasn’t, so you end up going to a grocery store that’s probably been there for longer. It’s probably not as popular there.”
In response to the USA TODAY report, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Darryl Caudle said that while it is normal for fresh produce to disappear from ships between replenishments, the only complaints he received were from sailors who were uninterested in the day’s vegetables.
If a ship is at sea for an extended period of time, “you can expect to run out of fresh fruit and vegetables between refills,” Caudle told reporters at the Defense Industry Council’s Sea Air Space on April 20.
Caudle said the sailors had not complained about the quality of the food, other than what he called “tactical complaints.”
“If today’s main vegetable is Brussels sprouts, and they’re not a big favorite of sailors, some people might say we don’t like Brussels sprouts,” he says.
The Navy denied USA TODAY’s invitation to a press conference and barred reporters from entering.
Defense officials acknowledged that sailors and Marines are consuming more dry and canned food. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while accepting the options offered would provide adequate nutrition from a nutritional standpoint, the poor taste could be causing people to eat less.
After USA TODAY’s report, the Navy also released 19 professionally-taken photos that they say accurately show the food service on board the two ships: smiling cooks, fried lo mein noodles, and sailors serving themselves at the extensive salad bar.
Were the delicious-looking photos released by the Navy an accurate depiction of the food served on the two ships? Some may question that, defense officials said.
The Navy, Pentagon and U.S. Central Command declined further comment.
Strait of Hormuz puts stress on supply chains
Former navy officials said Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz could worsen supply chain problems, forcing sailors to sail longer than usual without access to fresh fruit and vegetables.
After the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, the country retaliated by cutting off the flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. In recent days, both Iran and the United States have seized nearby ships, and President Trump said the Navy would seize and board ships visiting Iranian ports, so traffic through the main seaway remains far lower than before the war.
U.S. Navy ships can unload supplies from en route supply ships and replenishment ships. But former officials said the strait blockage may have put stress on supply chains and delayed supplies.
A person familiar with current naval operations said on condition of anonymity that Navy logistics are likely strained and the supply chain is not as agile and flexible as it should be.
Smith, a retired admiral, said the Navy could find itself in an “extreme situation when it comes to replenishment.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t plan for this level of demand on the system.”
Retired Captain Matthew Fenton, who served in the Navy for 30 years, said the Navy’s inability to access ports across the strait in the Persian Gulf may have caused “some disruption.”
While Fenton worked for the Military Sealift Command, which transports supplies to Navy ships in the Middle East, the Navy often made advance purchasing arrangements with Persian Gulf ports, including Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port, the region’s largest container port hub.
“They may have to move their sourcing outside the Strait of Hormuz,” Fenton said.
Fenton estimated that Navy ships typically keep at least 15 days’ worth of fresh food on board. He said the Navy always made feeding its sailors a “top priority” during his service, and said the family’s concerns in the USA TODAY report “do not match my experience” in the Navy.
USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli were also rerouted from deployments in the Pacific to the Middle East, leaving them at sea much longer than planned. Another aircraft carrier deployed to the war, the USS Gerald Ford, spent a record 295 days deployed when a laundry fire broke out on board and the ship was evacuated to a base in Crete for repairs.
A third aircraft carrier arrived in the Middle East on April 23, bringing the number of sailors and Marines in the region to more than 15,000, according to U.S. Central Command.
