The hack isn’t the first to disrupt Iranian airwaves. In 1986, The Washington Post reported that the CIA supplied the prince’s allies “a miniaturised television transmitter for an 11-minute clandestine broadcast” to Iran by Pahlavi that pirated the signal of two stations in the Islamic Republic.
In 2022, multiple channels aired footage showing leaders from the exiled opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq and a graphic calling for the death of iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
As tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington, ship-tracking data analysed by the AP this week showed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and other American military vessels in the Strait of Malacca after passing Singapore – a journey that could take them to the Middle East.
The Lincoln had been in the South China Sea with its strike group as a deterrent to China over tensions with Taiwan. Tracking data showed that the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., the USS Michael Murphy and the USS Spruance – all Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers – were travelling with the Lincoln.
Multiple US media reports quoting anonymous officials have said that the Lincoln, which has its home port in San Diego, was on its way to the Middle East. It likely would still need several days of travel before its aircraft would be in range of the region.
The Mideast has been without an aircraft carrier group or an amphibious ready group, likely complicating any discussion of a military operation targeting Iran, given Gulf Arab states’ broad opposition to such an attack.
