The Iranians do have credible threats to the big blue water ships of the US Navy operating in the narrow shallow Persian Gulf. The Iranians have purchased state of the art Chinese made stealth shore to ship missiles. The Chinese developed these missiles to clear the Taiwan Strait of hostile naval elements in the event of war. BTW thanks to the Clinton administration, they feature a digitalized virtually impossible to jam American designed guidance system. Those missiles fortify the shores of the Gulf and have a flight time to target of less than thirty seconds. If fired in conjunction with an asymmetrical attack, their threat to sink a carrier in the Gulf is plausible.
Of course if they were to attack American ships, their entire nuclear infrastructure would be destroyed within an hour. However the treat to those ships and their young sailors is real.
“If fired in conjunction with an asymmetrical attack, their threat to sink a carrier in the Gulf is plausible.”
Everyone knows the price of a Carrier.
The nation ceases to exist.
Still, I don’t think they could SINK a US Carrier. Even if they hit it with 1/2 dozen of their missiles, disablement is the worst case.
But they still must pay the existential price.