News Review 13/08/2026

 Concerns and Strain Among the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Gerald Ford

Reports from the USS Abraham Lincoln indicate mounting concern over the welfare of its roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines after an exceptionally long deployment supporting US military operations against Iran. The carrier left San Diego on November 21, 2025, and has spent more than 250 consecutive days at sea, with only limited time ashore. Its originally planned deployment was expected to end around May, but it has since been extended without a publicly announced return date. Families and lawmakers have reported deteriorating conditions aboard ship, including mold, broken toilets, shortages of toiletries and inadequate food. Some accounts describe sailors working exhausting hours with little opportunity for rest. More seriously, families have reported multiple incidents in which sailors attempted to go overboard, including at least one sailor who was stopped by a shipmate. A separate claim circulating in Iranian media alleges that seven US Navy personnel were killed in a knife fight aboard the carrier. That allegation remains unverified. It has been reported by Iranian and other outlets, and as of 13 August, the US Navy/Pentagon has not publicly responded specifically to the seven-deaths allegation. The human trauma of serving in the US Navy aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln follows the same pattern as aboard the USS Gerald Ford that earlier had to limp away from the Persian Gulf after its desperate crew allegedly set fire to and sabotaged their own ship.

Iran Demands More From the US

The Iranian demands of 8 August are a humiliation to US credibility, exposing the failure of Washington’s coercive diplomacy with a military lacking in the logistics and volume of offensive and defensive firepower it needs. The June 17 Memorandum of Understanding, which the US broke, was justified as a reciprocal bargain, but now it has been replaced by a set of non-negotiable demands that overwhelmingly favour Tehran while stripping America of its remaining leverage. The June MOU settled four issues upfront, leaving the nuclear file and Washington’s economic pressure tools for later negotiation. August 8 demands immediate resolution of all ten non-nuclear points at issue, with zero Iranian concessions on uranium enrichment. Where the MOU conditionally linked $300 billion in reconstruction funds to compliance, the new text demands full reparations, total sanctions removal and the unfreezing of all assets as unconditional prerequisites. Regional ceasefire demands have expanded from southern Lebanon to Gaza, the West Bank, Iraq and Yemen, alongside a complete US military withdrawal from the Persian Gulf. The nuclear omission is the decisive indicator of American failure as that was Trump’s claimed red line. Iran demands billions in relief and regional hegemony without conceding an inch on its atomic programme, precisely because Washington exhausted its coercive capacity during July’s military tit-for-tat. The administration that abandoned the JCPOA for a “better deal” now confronts terms worse than any previous framework. The Epstein empire’s credibility lies in ruins.

Trump Cowers in a Catering Truck While Abandoning his Staff to Feared Missile Attack

It has now been revealed that President Trump secretly swapped planes in Turkey hiding in a catering truck while journalists and staff flew as decoys on Air Force One has delivered a symbolic blow to American prestige, exposing the empire's paranoia and tactical incoherence. Trump boarded the Qatari-donated jet in Ankara on 8 July, then smuggled himself via catering truck to a smaller C-32A military aircraft, fleeing a reported Iranian missile threat. He later reboarded the old Air Force One in Britain, then transferred to the Qatari jet for the final leg home. The administration that boasts of defeating Iran now scrambles its president through catering trucks. The $400 million Qatari-gifted jet, accepted as a diplomatic trophy, proved so insecure that Trump abandoned it. Iranian media mocked "the cowardly Trump's escape" while Senator Schumer condemned the secrecy.

Mecca Joint Defense Agreement by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan

The signing of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan which stipulates that an armed attack against one signatory is an attack against all, is a NATO-style collective defense arrangement negotiated without Washington's apparent involvement after the US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February drew Gulf States into conflict, while US bases proved unable to protect regional allies. Saudi Arabia signed a Strategic Defense Agreement with the US in November 2025 and was designated a major non-NATO ally, but this has proven worthless in the face of the current US adventure in the Persian Gulf.

The World Health Organization Has Declared a Public Health Emergency Over Ebola Virus

The Ebola death toll in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 2,000, with 4,381 confirmed cases across five provinces. The outbreak, declared fewer than three months ago, has killed 2,011 people; half of them in the last 20 days. Delayed detection, conflict and strained health services have enabled the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments, to spread at an unprecedented rate. It took nearly five months to hit 1,000 deaths in the 2014 West African outbreak; Congo's current outbreak has hit 2,000 in less than three months. While billions flow to military adventures in the Middle East, Congo's health infrastructure crumbles despite it being the most resource rich country in Africa. Shortages of medical supplies, insecurity and community mistrust have complicated containment.