Middle East
5,500 targets struck in Iran, CENTCOM leader says in video update
Stars and Stripes
March 11, 2026
Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, speaks in a video update about Operation Epic Fury posted to X on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (U.S. Central Command via X)
U.S. forces have struck over 5,500 targets in Iran, including more than 60 ships, said Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, in a video message posted to X on Wednesday.
Cooper’s update said the ships struck Iran’s last four Soleimani-class warships and that a ballistic missile facility was hit by U.S. bombers. Parts of the video showed evidence of sites struck. In an earlier post on Tuesday, the command said it had destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz.
Cooper also touted the operation’s use of artificial intelligence tools as an example of how the military is “achieving lethal effects in entirely new ways.”
“Humans will always make final decisions on what to shoot and what not to shoot, and when to shoot, but advanced AI tools can turn processes that used to take hours and sometimes even days, into seconds,” he said.
Cooper also credited the U.S. Space Force with helping the operation in ways “unseen by the world.”
A screen grab from a video update posted by U.S. Central Command on X on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, showing an image of Iranian ships on Feb. 27, before strikes from Operation Epic Fury. (U.S. Central Command)
A screen grab from a video update posted by U.S. Central Command on X on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, showing the destruction of Iranian ships several days into Operation Epic Fury. (U.S. Central Command)
The admiral also reaffirmed that U.S. forces remain “centered on very clear military objectives.” Similarly, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson posted on X that “our mission is CLEAR” and “we are not entering another endless war.”
A day earlier, Senate Democrats threatened to force multiple war power resolution votes if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not appear for public hearings about the war.
They said they wanted key cabinet secretaries to immediately appear under oath to testify about why President Donald Trump embarked on a war with Iran and what the military campaign’s goals and scope are.
Seven U.S. service members have been killed in combat since the war’s start, while an eighth died of medical complications. The Pentagon on Wednesday confirmed the identify of one of those seven as Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, an Army reservist. The department said previously it believed Marzan was among the dead but was unable to confirm.
The Pentagon said Tuesday over 140 service members had been wounded, but that most injuries were minor and 108 had already returned to duty.
Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 people dead. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that 570 people have been killed in the country since the latest fighting began.
Stars and Stripes reporter Svetlana Shkolnikova and The Associated Press contributed to this report.