Critical updates from CENTCOM on Operation Epic Fury

by Summer Lane

Photo: Alamy

As Operation Epic Fury continues, the U.S. Central Command is releasing new information confirming further strikes against the Iranian regime amid a military operation that could have significant global impacts.

According to CENTCOM’s newest update on Thursday morning, approximately 6,000 targets have been struck so far. That number is up from 5,000 targets confirmed by the Pentagon on Tuesday during a briefing with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

CENTCOM also confirmed that the U.S. military has damaged or destroyed more than 90 Iranian vessels. Just over 60 of the Iranian Navy’s ships have been hit, and over 30 minelayers have been effectively targeted, as well.

U.S. assets deployed in this operation include a slate of jets, bombers, attack aircraft, and counter-drone systems, as well as “special capabilities we can’t list here!”

The U.S. military is focusing the scope of its attacks on 13 main areas, CENTCOM said, including Iranian command and control centers, IRGC sites, ballistic and drone manufacturing sites and facilities, and various naval targets, factories, and warehouses in the region.

In a video update from CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper on Wednesday, he offered his “overall assessment of Operation Epic Fury.”

“In short, U.S. forces continue delivering devastating combat power against the Iranian regime,” he said. “I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: U.S. combat power is building, Iranian combat power is declining, and we remain centered on very clear military objectives in eliminating Iran’s ability to project power against Americans and against its neighbors.”

He revealed that as of Wednesday, the U.S. military had destroyed the last four remaining Soleimani-class Iranian warships, “an entire class of Iranian ships, now out of the fight.”

Adm. Cooper described American military strikes against Iran as “unpredictable, dynamic, and decisive.”

He confirmed that the purpose of the operation was not simply to stop Iranian aggression now, but to deter them from attacking in the future. “We are methodically dismantling them by hitting Iranian missiles and drones as we also strike their defense industrial base,” Cooper noted. “…It’s not just about what’s shooting at us today, it’s also about eliminating the threat in the future.”

The objectives of Operation Epic Fury were recently reiterated by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: destroy Iran’s missile cache and its manufacturing capabilities, destroy the Iranian Navy, rob Iran of the ability to execute terror around the world through its proxies, and ensure Iran can never obtain nuclear weapons.

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