US sailors are ‘going hungry’ on Strait of Hormuz after meagre food pictures emerge
A dry meat burger, a strip of processed meat and a small portion of sliced carrots.
These were the rations allegedly pictured by a US service personnel onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Strait of Hormuz.
Since Monday, the US has blockaded Iranian ports on the critical oil chokepoint, a measure Donald Trump said would stay in place until a deal is reached.
This morning, Iranian military said the Strait of Hormuz had closed again due to the US blockade.
But the offerings for navy personnel stuck in the Middle East to police the blockade appear to be meagre.
One female marine sent her father, named as Dan, a picture of her rations aboard the USS Tripoli, which left its home port of Tokyo a month ago to join operations in the Gulf.
Her meal tray was shown almost empty, except for a lump of shredded meat and a single tortilla wrap.
She added that sailors were even being deprived of their caffeine hit after the coffee machine onboard the vessel broke down, with hygiene supplies allegedly running low.
However, the US Navy has now denied reports of alleged food shortages as ‘false.’
It said in a statement: ‘Recent reports alleging food shortages and poor quality aboard our deployed ships are false.
‘The US Navy possesses an unmatched logistics capability to sustain operations at sea, and routine menu adjustments are simply how we optimise our endurance to keep our warships in the fight.’
The Navy also said that a temporary hold on mail deliveries of personal packages has been lifted.
It comes after USA Today reported that family members of military personnel were trying to send out packages with supplies and essentials, including toothpaste, socks, puzzle books and homemade fudge, but many had been in transit for more than a month.
Dan sent his daughter a box containing toothpaste, tampons, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner more than a month ago, but it has yet to arrive.
A concerned mother from Texas sent her son thousands of pounds worth of parcels containing aid, all of which has yet to be delivered.
She said her son had reported supplies were ‘getting really low’ on board as early as March 11 and that the crew was not expecting to be able to reload at port until it concludes its mission.
Karen Erskine-Valentine, a pastor whose community sent 18 boxes to the USS Abraham Lincoln, said reports had come back that the food onboard was ‘tasteless’ and that sailors were ‘hungry all the time’.
‘That kind of breaks your heart’, she said.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth insisted marines had enough to eat, saying that all ships had been loaded with at least 30 days of Class I provisions, or food.
He wrote on X: ‘NavCent monitors this everyday, for every ship. Our sailors deserve — and receive — the best.’
As of Saturday, the situation on the Strait of Hormuz remains uncertain after Iranian officials appeared to row back on opening the critical body of water, which normally handles around 20 per cent of the world’s natural gas.
This morning Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait would not ‘remain open’ if the US blockade on Iranian ships continued.
Metro has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
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