By Marcus Weisgerber

Iran's ability to target U.S. interests and its partners in the Middle East is declining nearly four full days into the American and Israeli campaign, according to the top U.S. military commander in the region.

American forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions, Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, said in a video posted on social media. He also said "more capability is on the way" to the region.

"We have severely degraded Iran's air defenses and destroyed hundreds of Iran's ballistic missiles, launchers and drones," Cooper said. "In simple terms, we're focused on shooting all the things that can shoot at us."

The U.S. continues to hunt for Iran's mobile missile launchers, which the admiral called Iran's "lingering launch capability." Since operations began on Saturday, the U.S. military has sunk 17 Iranian ships, Cooper said. No Iranian ships are currently under way in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman, Cooper said.

The first 24 hours of strikes were "double the scale" of the 2003 "shock and awe" campaign of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Cooper said. The U.S. has used all three of its long-range bombers, the B-1, B-2 and B-52, in the strikes.

Meanwhile, Iran has launched over 500 missiles and 2,000 drones, Cooper said. "Iran is indiscriminately targeting civilians as they've launched these missiles and drones," he said.

That said, "we are seeing Iran's ability to hit us and our partners is declining while our combat power, on the other hand, is building," Cooper said. "My overall operational assessment is that we are ahead of our gameplan."

In addition to using one-way attack drones in combat for the first time, the U.S. also debuted a new, long-range artillery round called the Precision Strike Missile, which is "providing an un-rivaled, deep strike capability," Cooper said.

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March 03, 2026 20:11 ET (01:11 GMT)

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