Former CIA official warns that Iran can easily sink US aircraft carriers
By TRH World Desk
New Delhi, February 18, 2026 — The US-Iran tension is set for escalation. Two rounds of talks between Washington and Tehran yielded no concrete gains for de-escalation. The US has deployed aircraft carriers with aims to coerce Tehran to fall in line on nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. But ex-CIA official warned that Iran can sink the US aircraft carriers easily.
Geopolitics observer Ian Bremmer has said that the two rounds of talks brought no gains for de-escalation of tension in the Middle East. Bremmer warned that the US attacks on Iran could come in the next two days.
“Two rounds of Iran talks, very little progress so far. Unless Trump is prepared to accept a limited deal (focused on nuclear capacity, not missiles or support for regional proxies), military strikes in coming weeks looking likely,” Bremmer wrote on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week visited Washington for his eighth meeting with US President Donald Trump in the last one year. Reports said that Netanyahu has sought the US assurance on pressuring Iran on freezing the ballistic missile programme.
In the last conflict with Israel, Iran had rained ballistic missiles on Tel Aviv to cause major damages. In an escalatory bargaining basket, the US is reportedly now asking Iran to scale down ballistic missile programmes.
But former CIA official John Kiriakou has warned that Iran has now acquired superior hypersonic missile capabilities to sink US aircraft carriers. Kiriakou in a video post on X said that Iran has ramped up hypersonic missile capabilities with the help of China and Russia.
Geopolitics observers have stated that China has scaled up military support for Iran after the US carried out a swift and short military operation in Venezuela to “arrest” its President Nicolás Maduro.
“The Iranians have hypersonic missiles. The Chinese and the Russians gave them the technology, and they developed it domestically,” said Kiriakou. He added that “Iran can easily sink the US aircraft carriers which are the size of cities with 25,000 sailors aboard.”
He quoted US military veteran Colonel Doug MacGregor, who said that the US aircraft carriers “cannot defend against Iran’s hypersonic missiles. There’s no defence from a hypersonic missile.”
It may be recalled that Israeli air defence system had failed to block Iran’s hypersonic missiles in the last conflict. “Can you imagine if they sank one of those things or even just damaged it to the point where it would have to be towed into port for two years’ worth of repairs,” asked Kiriakou. He said that “I just see nothing good coming of an armed conflict with Iran.”
US Vice President JD Vance has told American broadcasters in his latest interviews that “Trump wants to find resolution with Iran — through diplomacy or other options.” The US and Iran interlocuters have held talks in Muscat.
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