Brad Cooper

B-52 bombers are among the aircraft taking part in Operation Epic Fury, the mission to eliminate the threat of the Iranian regime, according to the top U.S. commander in the Middle East.

U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in a video address Tuesday, March 3, that on Monday night, March 2, a B-52 bomber force struck a ballistic missile and command and control posts in Iran.

Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale AFB in Louisiana have B-52 bombers. The home base of the B-52s taking part in the mission was not released.

U.S. Central Command, commonly referred to as CENTCOM, is based at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, and its area of responsibility includes 21 countries in the Middle East.

In his operational update on Operation Epic Fury, Cooper said, “By the order of the president of the United States and secretary of War, our military in the Middle East is undertaking an unprecedented operation to eliminate Iran’s ability to threaten Americans as they have been doing for nearly half a century.”

A military member for 36 years, Cooper said he could not be prouder of America’s sons and daughters in uniform who are answering the call.

He said more than 50,000 troops, 200 fighters, two aircraft carriers and bombers from the United States are participating in this operation and more capabilities are on the way.

“These forces bring a massive amount of firepower, representing the largest buildup by the U.S. in the Middle East in a generation,” Cooper said.

In the opening hours of Operation Epic Fury, Cooper said U.S. Central Command forces together with Israel delivered overwhelming and unprecedented strikes into Iran. He said they continue with 24/7 strikes into Iran from seabed to space and cyberspace.

“Now we’re less than 100 hours into this operation and we’ve already struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions. We have severely degraded Iran’s air defenses and destroyed hundreds of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers and drones. In simple terms, we’re focused on shooting all the things that can shoot at us,” Cooper said.

“Our B-2 bombers and B-1 bombers have executed uncontested surgical strikes against multiple missile facilities deep inside Iran, and then just last night (Monday, March 2) a B-52 bomber force struck a ballistic missile and command and control posts,” he said.

He said they are also sinking the entire Iranian navy. He said so far, they have destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including the most operational Iranian submarine that now has a hole in its side.

“For decades, the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping. Today, there’s not a single Iranian ship underway in the Iranian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop,” Cooper said. “We will continue to conduct dynamic targeting operations or hunting Iran’s last remaining mobile ballistic missile launchers to eliminate what I would characterize as their lingering launch capability.”

In retaliation, Cooper said the Iranian regime has launched more than 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2,000 drones. He said Iran is indiscriminately targeting civilians as they launch these missiles and drones.

“We are seeing Iran’s ability to hit us and our partners is declining while our combat power, on the other hand, is building. In my overall operational assessment, is that we are ahead of our game plan,” Cooper said.

Along the way, he said every single branch of the U.S. military is achieving unprecedented success.

He said the U.S. Naval force has deployed multiple waves of cruise missiles, obliterating Iranian command and control, and air defense capabilities. From two aircraft carriers, he said Iran is being squeezed from the sea and they are backed into their own ports.

“U.S. Air Forces are doing what they do best — executing a high volume of airstrikes right into Iran,” he said.

Operationally, he said the two most powerful air forces in the world — the U.S. and Israel — are dominating the skies over the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.

“U.S. Army soldiers are defending ourselves and our partners, and in a historic first the U.S. Army fired long-range precision strike missiles called PrSM in combat, providing an unrivaled deep-strike capability,” Cooper said.

He said also for the first time, U.S. Central Command’s drone task force, called Task Force Scorpion Strike, launched countless one-way attack drones achieving massive effects.

“I’d like to point out these drones were originally an Iranian design. We took them back to America, made them better and fired them right back at Iran,” he said.

“Our military objectives are crystal clear and our people are executing an immensely complex and historic mission with relentless lethality, conviction and professionalism and we have just begun. But I have the utmost confidence that we, alongside our partners, will absolutely achieve our military objectives,” Cooper said.