US vs Iran’: Can Yemen Houthis Hijack USS Abraham Lincoln if It Strikes Iran?

As the United States weighs potential military action against Iran amid heightened tensions over nuclear negotiations and regional hostilities, defence analysts are closely watching not just Tehran’s response but that of Yemen’s Houthi movement — the Iran-aligned armed group that has been targeting international shipping and signalling it may strike U.S. naval assets if Washington enters a conflict.
While the idea of a direct “hijacking” of an aircraft carrier such as the USS Abraham Lincoln is highly implausible given modern naval defenses and U.S. military superiority, the Houthi threat underscores how a broader regional conflagration could pull in additional actors and complicate any American operations.
Houthis: From Shipping Attacks to Threats on U.S. Ships
Over the past several years, the Iran-backed Houthis — formally known as Ansar Allah — have launched repeated missile and drone strikes on commercial vessels and naval targets in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb strait, and the Gulf of Aden. The group claims these actions are in solidarity with Palestinians and in protest of Western and Israeli military policies. Since late 2023, the Houthis say they have attacked more than 100 ships, firing missiles and drones across one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
U.S. Central Command has responded by intercepting and destroying Houthi drones and missiles, including in self-defence operations, and has struck Houthi weapon storage and command facilities in Yemen to degrade those capabilities.
Importantly, in June 2025, Reuters reported that the Houthis openly threatened to target U.S. ships — including warships — “if Washington joins strikes on Iran.” That declaration suggests that the group sees American involvement in a wider regional conflict as an impetus to escalate its own actions
Geography and Capabilities: What the Houthis Can and Cannot Do
The Houthis control significant territory in northern Yemen, including large coastal stretches on the Red Sea. They have used this geography to fire missiles, drones and even unmanned surface vessels at international shipping and naval assets. Analysts say their arsenal is a mix of short-range ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and armed drones — many believed to be of Iranian origin or design.
However, these systems have limitations. While they can threaten unarmoured merchant vessels and pose risks to smaller craft, they lack the precision, range, and frequency needed to overwhelm a carrier strike group’s layered defenses. U.S. Navy carriers like the Abraham Lincoln are protected by:
Aegis-equipped escort destroyers, capable of tracking and intercepting missiles and drones
Carrier air wings, including fighters and early-warning aircraft
Electronic warfare systems and point-defence weapons designed to defeat approaching threats
These assets make a direct “hijack” or capture scenario nearly impossible; carriers are some of the most heavily defended platforms in the world.
Threat vs. Capability
Despite the group’s rhetoric, there is no verified event in which Houthis have successfully damaged or captured a U.S. aircraft carrier. When claims have been made — including assertions of targeting U.S. carriers with a combination of missiles and drones — U.S. military officials have either denied hits or confirmed only interception of various Houthi UAVs and missiles with no damage to warships.
That said, the group’s pattern of attacks has forced Western navies to expend time, ammunition and strategic focus on patrols in the Red Sea rather than elsewhere. In 2024 and 2025, U.S. and allied forces conducted hundreds of air and cruise missile strikes against Houthi sites in response to repeated attacks.
If the U.S. Strikes Iran
A U.S. strike on Iran could significantly change the calculus. The Houthis would likely ramp up operations in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, viewing the conflict as part of a broader struggle involving Iran and its network of allied militias. Statements published by Yemen-based outlets and observers indicate that the group has linked its actions to wider geopolitical dynamics and said it will resume targeting Western shipping if cease-fires or restraint collapse.
However, even in a worst-case scenario of heightened operations, analysts believe the Houthis would focus on swarming attacks using drones and missiles against commercial and lightly defended naval units — not the complex and extremely costly attempt to board or hijack an American carrier, which would be militarily unrealistic.
Regional Strategic Fallout
Even without realistic capability to strike a carrier directly, Houthi threats add a complicating factor. A broader Middle Eastern conflict could force the U.S. Navy to divide attention between protecting high-value national assets and countering opportunistic proxy attacks. It would also draw other Iran-aligned groups in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria into a wider vector of conflict, risking a multi-front crisis unlike any the region has seen since 2003.