U.S. Central Command has rejected claims circulating in Iranian media that a United States aircraft carrier has been sunk, stating instead that American forces struck an Iranian drone carrier in the opening hours of Operation Epic Fury.

In a post published on 2 March, CENTCOM said “the Iranian regime’s false messaging machine continues to falsely claim that it has sunk a U.S. aircraft carrier.” It added: “The TRUTH: The only carrier that has been hit is the Shahid Bagheri, an Iranian drone carrier. U.S. forces struck the ship within hours of launching Operation Epic Fury.”

The vessel identified by CENTCOM, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, is a converted commercial ship operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. Commissioned last year, it has been presented by Tehran as a sea-based platform for unmanned systems. Rather than operating fast jets, the ship is configured to launch and recover drones and helicopters, giving Iran a means of extending the reach of its unmanned aerial operations beyond its coastline.

Imagery previously released by Iranian state media showed a long, flat deck adapted for drone activity, alongside facilities to support command, control and maintenance functions.

No further operational detail has been released about the strike on the Shahid Bagheri, including the extent of any damage sustained. CENTCOM said additional information would be provided as it becomes available.

George Allison
George Allison
George Allison is the founder and editor of the UK Defence Journal. He holds a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and specialises in naval and cyber security topics. George has appeared on national radio and television to provide commentary on defence and security issues. Twitter: @geoallison
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63 COMMENTS

  1. Noooo, it was so silly!
    There are rumours the IAF have destroyed some of Iran’s Tomcats too, just wanting destruction of museum pieces.

    • More seriously all of the ingredients are developing for this type of converted carrier to become much more common and feasible, to the point where even Western navies might want one. STOL drones like Vanquish and Mojave make the angled deck and ski ramp relevant, while containerised strike and defence weapons would make outfitting a lot easier.
      Then if the Iranians had the shipyard facilities to actually build a hangar and deck lifts instead of a football pitch the aviation facilities would have been a lot better, and most European refit yards would be able to accommodate that. A container ship of the size of Shahid Bagheri costs about £150M second hand in good condition, say the same again for the refit and you have an aircraft carrier for the cost of a T31. Of course it would be more complicated than that but if you want to rapidly increase aviation capacity…

      • except this is civilian tanker/cargo ship, cannot take hits, is slow and not mobile
        it’s like painting a Ford Transit in green and calling it an APC 😀

        • Not supposed to be good, just cheap. Drones give standoff range that makes it a lot harder to coordinate attacks. If there were Brimstone hidden inside the Transit…

            • There are plenty of converted auxiliaries around- the USN uses expeditionary sea bases which were converted from semi-submersible transports to good effect a lot closer to shore than any drone carrier would venture.

              • You are advocating the Max Hastings Class of suicide certified carriers?

                Really this isn’t a good idea of any kind whatsoever.

                During the Cold Thaw ships like Ocean and to a certain extent Bays made sense. The US Littoral Support ships are fine for projecting power against countries with no offensive capabilities – just no use in a war.

                • Not suggesting a conversion as limited as that on the Shahid Bagheri, that’s a genuine bodge with no hangar, no means of defending itself and a very compromised flight deck. Container ships are largely hollow but built to carry a lot of topweight so it should be possible to gut the things and rebuild completely with a starboard island, pair of aircraft lifts and a cavernous internal hangar (which is why I allowed for the conversion doubling the initial cost in the above). It would cost a lot of money but by retaining the propulsion (with funnel reducting) and the 40k tonne hull it takes less time than a newbuild would even of the same lower quality.
                  Add in the fact that the RN is now seriously considering containerised air defence systems requiring no cueing from the CMS or onboard maintenance (Project METIS) and such a ship designed purely for long range drone warfare would be a lot better protected than the Invincibles were during the Falklands by virtue of technology and standoff range. Also for ASW as a helicopter platform and HADR.

                  PS I’m not seriously suggesting the RN buy a container ship and give it to Cammel Laird to convert, just wondering whether something similar will become attractive in future for European and wider navies.

                  • The bigger problem is compartmentation and DC.

                    Once you start adding that to commercial starting from scratch is quicker and cheaper.

                    FSSS are ~£350m and are the right sort of size as a guide.

                    Otherwise you are creating a limited usage case class as NATO navies won’t put crew at ridiculous risk in a hot zone.

                  • Conveyor was sunk by the munitions and fuel she carried set off by the Exocet. No magazine and no containment for the aviation fuels.

                    That is the problem with a merchant conversion.

                    Argus was a bit different in design because of her intended use.

                    The results would still have been ugly is Argus was hit in ‘82 before she was reworked.

                    • That’s why I’m suggesting a full refit from the get-go rather than just some containers on deck, which is where AC was carrying the munitions and fuel. All of the Falklands flight deck merchants were combination RORO-container ships so that they had an existing hard deck on which the container hangars were built. That meant the only available spaces were above deck. A Panamax Max container ship stores an extra 6 high stack of containers below deck level, and with a 3 deck hangar that leaves a lot of volume below the water line to install a proper magazine and fuel tanks with shock and ballistic protection relative to the amount of explosive material that would need storing- the size makes it more efficient.

                      The same spaces could be used aft and in the extreme bow to have the accommodation and other facilities, with the flight deck at flush-deck level and much more structurally involved than the one tacked on top of the Shahid.

      • The IRGC had a video of her showing a Drone rising up from her hanger via a flightdeck lift ,if Comsen is correct then all that work in converting a bulk carrier into a Drone carrier good ides for Propaganda purposes not a great idea in real world situation .But hey another good up and coming diving tourist attraction .

  2. Was only thinking of this thing this morning and wondering its fate. A little difficult to hide it so wondering why we hadn’t heard anything about it being struck though when ten vessels sunk was indeed announced this morning I did presume it must surely have been a victim.

  3. They sank the Fisher Price carrier. As with all claims, I will wait for photos. But, I won’t be surprised considering the target, and it’s having such poor defences. After watching videos of the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, even calling it a drone carrier would be a stretch. It had an indoor football pitch, if that counts for something.

  4. I wonder if these raghead wearing creeps will even have a tugboat after all this.
    I guess they will have bigger priorities after this than making sure if their men and women are keeping a respectful distance apart from each other in public places.

  7. I think a couple more frigates (or corvettes) might have been sunk too.

    Priority should be given to the Kilo Subs (two are in refit) one is active.
    as well as the Ghadir mini submarines

    • Neutralising their immediate offensive capability has to be the first step, anything that can threaten shipping, regional bases or allied territory. But once that’s dealt with, for me the focus should shift to systematically dismantling the parts of Iran’s MIC that actually matter, while at the same time targeting any military hardware that’s worth using Western munitions on. There won’t be much, to be honest, but yes, all of their ships and submarines should be turned into reefs.

    • I think the US don’t want to destroy Irans entire military infrastructure, at this juncture anyway.

      Some lessons have been learnt and they probably hope elements within the Iranian armed forces will eventually assist the overthrow of the regime and create stability for a future democratic govenment.

  8. The main problem are he IRGC small fast boats. Swarms of them could cause major issues, I did read they have hundreds.

  9. BBC around teatime this evening were saying the Iranian air force hardly has any combat jets. They actually have a lot more than the RAF has!(RAF c170, Iranian AF c250-300), so no fact checking there. Sure a lot may not be operational(Even our F35s usually estimated at 50% operational), but still an air force to be respected. I’d love to see the downfall of the Islamic revolution regime, but can;’t see that happening yet. Trump is redefining the objectives a he goes along. Meanwhile he’s psychotically attackting a US defence AI firm for refusing to give carte blanche for him to use it to provide mass surveillance of US citizens & conduct killing operations without any human in the loop. Her’s making Hitler look calm & reliable!

    • Yes, they have more aircraft than the RAF on paper, but it’s a museum fleet. F‑4s, F‑5s and F‑14s from the 1970s, plus a few old Russian MiG‑29s and Su‑24s.

      The June 2025 conflict made this clear. Israel achieved air superiority within the first 48 hours. Iranian F‑14s, F‑5s and MiG‑29s were largely grounded or destroyed on the runways, with no effective aerial resistance. The operation also exposed just how weak Iran’s air‑defence network really was, with most of their surface to air systems failing to stop the strikes. We should respect the threat Iran poses — drones, ballistic missiles, etc. But their air force is no threat. And like TorpedoJ says above, we don’t want to be destroying classics like the Tomcat (F‑14). The US should be looking at how to get them out of the country safely TBH 😛

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