US Central Command Commander Admiral Brad Cooper has confirmed that American military forces have crippled Iran's military and its ability to project power with lethal strikes during the Middle East war. According to reports from RTT News, Cooper testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, stating that the joint US-Israeli campaign has achieved comprehensive military degradation. This represents a significant escalation from Cooper's earlier acknowledgment that Iran's military threat has not been fully eliminated, marking a notable shift in US military assessment of Iran's capabilities following Operation Epic Fury.
Despite acknowledging residual Iranian capabilities, Cooper maintained that the joint US-Israeli campaign had significantly degraded Iran's offensive infrastructure. As reported by Business Standard, Cooper argued that the campaign had severely damaged Iran's defence industrial base and its ability to replenish weapons quickly. According to The War Zone, the CENTCOM chief claimed nearly 90 per cent of Iran's missile, drone and naval industrial infrastructure had been degraded during the operation. The commander's recent acknowledgment suggests that while substantial progress was made, Iran's military capabilities remain more resilient than initially assessed, though the latest testimony confirms they are now crippled rather than merely degraded.
Cooper highlighted the extensive damage to Iran's naval capabilities during the operation, with recent reports confirming the scale of destruction. According to Business Standard, he said "We eliminated more than 90 per cent of Iran's once-massive inventory of over 8,000 naval mines, with more than 700 airstrikes on Iranian naval mine targets." Regarding air defense systems, Cooper informed that US forces destroyed or rendered non-mission-capable Iran's fixed-wing airfields, hangars, fuel storage, and munitions stockpiles, and knocked out 82 per cent of its air defence missile systems along with the radar and command architecture that tied them together.
The CENTCOM chief provided specific details about the operational impact on Iran's military capabilities, with recent reports confirming the complete grounding of Iranian air operations. As reported by Business Standard, Cooper stated that "Before OEF, the Iranian Air Force flew between 30 and 100 sorties each day. Today that number is zero." Regarding naval operations, Cooper informed that US forces have destroyed about 161 vessels in total across 16 classes of warships. The debate over Iran's remaining arsenal has become central to assessing the effectiveness of the US-led strikes, with intelligence leaks suggesting Iran still retains thousands of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles hidden in underground facilities.
