Adm. Brad Cooper delivered testimony on CENTCOM’s posture to the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services on Thursday, saying U.S. Central Command forces met their military objectives in Operation Epic Fury in less than 40 days and weakened Iran’s ability to project power beyond its borders, CENTCOM said.
Cooper said the operation was launched at the direction of the president after more than two years of Iranian efforts to use the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks to destabilize the region.
According to Cooper, Iranian-supported groups attacked U.S. troops and diplomats more than 350 times in the 30 months before Operation Epic Fury began. He said those attacks killed four U.S. service members and wounded nearly 200 others.
Cooper said Iran’s ability to carry out attacks at the scale seen in April and October 2024 has been reduced. He cited previous barrages involving hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones in the Middle East.
Cooper also said 90% of Iran’s defense industrial base had been destroyed, limiting Tehran’s ability to rebuild those weapons.
He said Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are now cut off from Iran’s weapons supply and support. Cooper described the outcome as the result of months of planning, not chance.
The CENTCOM commander also honored 14 service members he said died during Operation Epic Fury, along with two soldiers and one civilian killed in Palmyra, Syria.
Cooper said the results “did not come without cost,” and credited U.S. service members in CENTCOM for what he described as key roles in recent world events.
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