An F/A-18E Super Hornet lands on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during Operation Epic Fury on March 2, 2026. U.S. forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions, severely degrading Iran’s air defenses and destroying hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles, launchers and drones, according to U.S. Central Command leaders. (U.S. Navy)
U.S. forces have wiped out more than 20 Iranian navy ships and put a hole in the side of Tehran’s most operational submarine, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Those vessels include the sinking Tuesday of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean by a U.S. fast-attack submarine using a single MK 48 torpedo, the first such action since World War II, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said during a briefing Wednesday. They did not name the ship.
Not a single Iranian ship was underway as of Tuesday in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman, Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in an update video posted earlier Wednesday on X.
The U.S. won’t stop in its efforts to sink the entire Iranian navy and end its ability to harass international shipping, he said, adding that destroying Iran’s missile capabilities is among objectives still being pursued under Operation Epic Fury.
“We’re hunting Iran’s last remaining mobile ballistic missile launchers to eliminate, what I would characterize, is their lingering launch capability,” Cooper said.
Iran has two naval forces: the Islamic Republic of Iran navy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy. The former is focused on traditional maritime activities, the latter on asymmetric warfare.
Their combined fleet has more than 100 vessels and includes a variety of submarines, frigates, destroyers and fast-attack boats, The Economic Times, a prominent India-based publication of global business news, reported in June.
Many of those ships, including the largest, had not dispersed ahead of U.S. strikes and remained in predictable locations, such as the naval base at Bandar Abbas, open-source intelligence analyst H.I. Sutton wrote in a Feb. 27 blog post.
Cooper said the Navy’s two aircraft carrier strike groups, including USS Gerald R. Ford in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, were squeezing the Iranians and “have them back into their own ports.”
He characterized the U.S. military operations against Iran that began on Saturday as “ahead of our game plan.”
A Navy destroyer fires a missile in support of Operation Epic Fury in the Arabian Sea on Feb. 28, 2026. (U.S. Navy)
U.S. forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions, severely degrading Iran’s air defenses and destroying hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles, launchers and drones, he said.
“In simple terms, we’re focused on shooting all the things that can shoot at us,” Cooper said in the video.
Those accomplishments may help President Donald Trump’s efforts to ensure the free flow of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf to the U.S. and other countries.
In a Truth Social post Tuesday, Trump said he had ordered the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. to provide reasonably priced political risk insurance and guarantees for all maritime trade, particularly energy, traveling through the Persian Gulf.
If necessary, the U.S. Navy would begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible, Trump said.
The strait is a narrow chokepoint connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. About 20 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products, or about 20% of the world’s total consumption, are transported through the strait each day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
But since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, few tankers have passed through the strait, with just two transiting on Monday. Iran has threatened to attack any that do, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The Strait of Hormuz is shown in this undated satellite image. President Donald Trump said he may order Navy ships to escort tankers and cargo vessels through the key shipping route to restore traffic halted by armed conflict in the region. (NASA)
International oil prices have risen 12% since the war began, hitting $81 a barrel on Tuesday. Natural gas prices in Europe and Asia also surged, according to The New York Times.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the Navy, which has played a vital role in helping degrade Iranian capabilities in command and control as well as air defense, would take on the task of escorting tankers.
As of Monday, three littoral combat ships — USS Canberra, USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara — were operating in the Persian Gulf, according to the USNI News fleet tracker.
There are six destroyers — USS McFaul, USS John Finn, USS Milius, USS Delbert D. Black, USS Pinckney and USS Mitscher — operating independently in the Arabian Sea.
The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, including the destroyers USS Frank E. Peterson, USS Spruance and USS Michael Murphy, also is in the Arabian Sea, according to USNI.
