Washington DC [US], March 6 : United States Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Admiral Brad Cooper has said that America has struck nearly 200 targets inside Iran over the past 72 hours and significantly degraded Tehran's missile and drone attack capabilities, adding that they are now working to dismantle Iran's missile production infrastructure.
Speaking during a press conference on Thursday (local time), Cooper detailed the scale of the ongoing military operation titled 'Operation Epic Fury' targeting Iranian missile launchers and infrastructure.
"In just the last 72 hours, America's bomber force has struck nearly 200 targets deep inside of Iran. In just the last hour, U.S. B-2 Spirit bombers dropped dozens of 2,000lb Penetrator bombs targeting deeply buried ballistic missile launchers," Cooper said.
He said the strikes have sharply reduced the scale of Iranian retaliatory attacks since the operation began. "If I just look back over the last 24 hours of the operation compared to where we were to start, ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90 per cent...drone attacks have decreased by 83 per cent... we're now up over 30 ships [destroyed]," he added.
Cooper also said the 'Operation Epic Fury' has expanded beyond immediate strikes to targeting the long-term capacity of Iran's missile programme, following instructions from US President Donald Trump.
"President Trump gave us another task to raze or level Iran's ballistic missile industrial base," he said.
"We're not just hitting what they have, we're destroying their ability to rebuild. We will systemically dismantle Iran's missile production capability for the future, and that's absolutely in progress," Cooper added.
The CENTCOM chief also highlighted a programme involving a captured Iranian drone design that has been reverse-engineered and redeployed by US forces.
"LUCAS indispensable...This was an original Iranian drone design. We captured it, pulled the guts out, sent it back to America, put a little 'Made in America' on it, brought it back here, and we're shooting it at the Iranians, Cooper said.
His remarks come amid escalating tensions in West Asia after a joint US-Israel military strike on February 28 on Iranian territory resulted in the death of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior figures, prompting a fierce response from Tehran.
In retaliation, Iran launched waves of drone and missile attacks targeting American military bases across multiple Arab countries as the conflict now entered its sixth day.
Israel is also continuing its strikes on Tehran and widening the conflict to Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah.
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