TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command said Saturday that its commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, directed the creation of a new task force to stop Iran from using ground routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials.
The unit is called Task Force Iron Gate. About 20 people will staff it, civilians and service members together, and they will work out of Tampa, Florida, CENTCOM’s home base. The team is meant to cut off the flow of advanced weapons and dual-use technology across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea, and to go after sanctioned goods and the illegal money tied to them, working alongside other U.S. government agencies.
“The establishment of Task Force Iron Gate reinforces the success of our ironclad blockade against Iran at sea,” Cooper said. “Strengthening CENTCOM’s collaboration with U.S. interagency partners will further constrain Iran’s ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories, and replenish their military.”
A land counterpart to the sea blockade
CENTCOM said the naval blockade has kept Iran from exporting more than $25 billion in crude oil in recent months, and that strict enforcement at sea continues against all ships entering or leaving Iranian ports. Iron Gate is the land side of that effort.
Reuters had already dug into the smuggling the task force is meant to stop. Its investigation put a figure on it: at least $2 billion worth of hardware, explosives and heavy-duty trucks, brought in quietly by a secret network of Iranian military agencies since January 2025, in spite of the blockade and Western sanctions. Ships carried some of it across the Caspian from Russia. Trucks brought more through Central Asia, and freight planes flew the rest in from China, Reuters said.
Which agencies will take part? CENTCOM’s release does not name them. A U.S. military official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity expected the Treasury, State and Justice Departments to be involved, along with the intelligence community.
Former counterterrorism chief objects
The announcement drew a public objection within hours. Joe Kent, who resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in March, posted on X that the move will only escalate tensions with Iran and undermine peace talks, the Washington Examiner reported.
Kent called the announcement a “brash provocation.” He wrote that Iran’s leaders “won’t tolerate being slowly strangled by sanctions” and said CENTCOM is “working directly against what President Trump is attempting to accomplish” in the Middle East.
Diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran are still under way. Trump confirmed on Friday that U.S. forces carried out limited, “minor” strikes against an Iranian air defense system on Qeshm Island, and he has not ordered more aggressive attacks. Vice President JD Vance has taken part in indirect talks over the past two weeks aimed at ending the conflict, Axios reported on Friday, and Trump confirmed that talks concerning Iran were taking place.
Kent resigned weeks after the U.S. and Israeli militaries first bombed Iran, arguing at the time that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States. On Saturday he said Trump needs a new national security team, “one that’s not tied to starting the war and that can instead end it.”
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