A senior Iranian cleric said in a Friday prayers sermon that the United States' navy fleet could be “destroyed with one missile”, as a US aircraft carrier headed to the Gulf, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported.

The carrier Abraham Lincoln, deployed by President Donald Trump's administration to the Middle East as a warning to Iran, passed through Egypts Suez Canal on Thursday, the Suez Canal Authority said.

“Ayatollah Yousef Tabatabai-Nejad,... referring to the Abraham Lincoln warship heading to the Gulf, said: 'Their billion (dollar) fleet can be destroyed with one missile'," ISNA reported from the central city of Isfahan.