Iran Moves Mock-Up US Carrier to Mouth of Gulf: Satellite Images

Iran has moved a mock-up U.S. aircraft carrier to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, suggesting it will use the look-alike vessel for target practice.

Iran's refurbished mockup aircraft carrier (R), used previously as a simulated U.S. target during a February, 2015 Iranian naval war games exercise, is approached by a fast boat at the Strait of Hormuz, 50km Southeast of Bandar Abbas, Iran on July 26, 2020. Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies/via Reuters

DUBAI—Iran has moved a mock-up U.S. aircraft carrier to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, satellite images show, suggesting it will use the look-alike vessel for target practice in war games in a Gulf shipping channel.

The use of dummy American warships has become an occasional feature of training by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its naval forces, including in 2015 when Iranian missiles hit a mock-up resembling a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.