While the funeral was still underway, something major happened on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
The White House spokesperson suddenly convened a press conference to explain the fate and losses of the US Navy's Sixth Fleet to the media. Although the statement concealed most of the truth, the spokesperson still claimed that the Ministry of Defence had identified the attackers from information recovered from salvaged black boxes, proving that the valiant naval soldiers had fought the attackers to the very last moment and perfectly demonstrated patriotism. Then the vice president, who was about to run for election, stepped onto the lawn, condemned the attackers, and quoted Bush to declare that this was terrorism through and through.
The vice president first invited the families of naval officers, including women and children, onto the stage and expressed his gratitude and condolences. He then displayed a medal and a list of naval soldiers to the cameras, once again claiming that the soldiers aboard the carrier were brave patriots. After that, it was the president's turn to speak. He read out the names of a series of countries, including Hungary, to the news media, declaring that those countries would face corresponding sanctions, including but not limited to raised tariffs, restricted imports and exports, confiscation of overseas assets, and so on, until they proved they had nothing to do with the attack. Two countries that the United States disliked the most suddenly gained more than a thousand new proposed sanctions, and the number appeared likely to increase further.
Meanwhile, Regent Victor von Doom of Latveria appeared in Serbia. Seemingly in response to the White House's sanctions, he boldly declared that the U.S. military's carrier battle groups were extremely weak, and that destroying three carrier battle groups without using weapons of mass destruction had