India, March 7 -- Iran's armed forces said Friday that a naval missile system launched a surface-to-sea missile toward the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, marking a dramatic escalation in the widening war after Israel attacks Iran and regional tensions spiral across the Middle East.

The statement, reported by Iranian media and cited by the Fars news agency, said the missile was launched by Iran's navy toward the carrier operating in waters near the region. The announcement came as Tehran warned that attacks against US and Israeli forces would intensify in the coming days.

The USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the US Navy's most powerful Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, has been deployed to the Middle East as part of W...