CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper reported on Thursday that Iranian drone attacks have decreased by 83 percent since U.S. and Israeli forces launched their joint campaign against the regime early Saturday. Similarly, Iranian ballistic missile strikes have fallen by 90 percent during the same period, according to Cooper at a press conference held at CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa.
Cooper detailed that U.S. bombers struck nearly 200 targets “deep inside of Iran” within the past 72 hours alone, including a significant strike that destroyed an Iranian drone carrier. He stated U.S. forces also “relentlessly destroyed Iran’s air defenses” over the weekend.
“The United States has sunk at least 30 Iranian ships,” Cooper added, noting that more than 50,000 soldiers have been deployed in what he described as a historic military effort. “U.S. combat power is building as Iranian combat power declines,” he emphasized, explaining that air dominance enables the U.S. to target Iran’s “center of gravity” with overwhelming force.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed that “the amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically” in coming days, including additional fighter squadrons and offensive and defensive munitions. The U.S. next phase will focus on dismantling Tehran’s long-term ballistic missile capabilities.
Cooper revealed that B-2 bombers dropped “dozens of 2,000 pound penetrator bombs” on deeply buried Iranian ballistic missile launchers earlier this week. U.S. forces also targeted Iran’s Space Command facilities—the regime’s research hubs for advanced ballistic missile technology aimed at developing weapons capable of striking the continental United States.
Hegseth asserted that “Iran is hoping we cannot sustain this,” but countered it was a “really bad miscalculation” for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, adding U.S. stockpiles allow “sustaining this campaign as long as we need to.”
Cooper further noted U.S. strikes on Iranian military personnel and bases, including an initial strike on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps central headquarters. He stated: “We’re targeting the headquarters and the people who are targeting the protesters.”