US Senator Chris Van Hollen sharply criticized President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war, calling for the conflict to end. In an X post cited in a report published on August 17, 2026, the Democratic senator said their indifference toward US military personnel was shameful.

Van Hollen said the war was not making the United States safer. He also criticized Trump’s role in addressing concerns about the mental health of service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. The senator said male and female members of the armed forces, along with their families, deserved better.

He said the best way to protect them was to end the war. The report also said the USS George Washington was set to assume the USS Abraham Lincoln’s responsibilities, and that it had already departed Da Nang port in Vietnam.