U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper said the U.S. operation against Iran “degraded” Iran’s navy, adding that the service would take five to 10 years to rebuild.
Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the success of Operation Epic Fury on Thursday, Cooper said U.S. forces had severely degraded Iran’s warfighting capacity, including the elimination of roughly 90% of its inventory of more than 8,000 naval mines. He also cited the destruction of 90% of Iran’s defense industrial base.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 14, 2026
“The defense industrial rates for their drones, and their missiles and their Navy were degraded by 90 percent. They have about 10 percent left,” Cooper said. “For the Navy, my military assessment would be that the Navy will not begin to rebuild for five to 10 years.”
At the hearing, Cooper also dismissed reports that Iran still possesses a large number of missiles and launchers.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that the “Trump administration’s public portrayal of a shattered Iranian military is sharply at odds with what U.S. intelligence agencies are telling policymakers behind closed doors.”
The newspaper cited “classified assessments from early this month that show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities.”
“It’s more than just the numbers. It’s the command and control that’s been shattered. It’s the significant degradation and capability. And it’s the lack of any ability to then produce any missiles or drones on the backend,” Cooper said.
He added: “Iran has a significantly degraded threat. They no longer threaten regional partners, or the United States, in ways that they were able to do before, across every domain.”
Cooper added that the U.S. operation also degraded Iran’s ability to project power outside its borders. “Today, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are all cut-off from Iran’s weapons supply and support,” Cooper said. “This result was not foreordained.”
In the 30 months before Epic Fury began, Cooper said, those aligned militias carried out more than 350 attacks on U.S. service members and diplomats stationed in the region.
Despite those claims of degradation, Cooper acknowledged Iran retains some capacity for limited attacks.
“It’s a very large country,” he said. He acknowledged that Iran still possessed “a very moderate, if not small, capability” to conduct strikes on regional neighbors.
Launched on Feb. 28, Operation Epic Fury is a U.S. military campaign aimed at destroying Iranian offensive missiles, Iran’s naval and other security infrastructure, and ensuring that Iran “will never have nuclear weapons.”
Cooper said U.S. forces had achieved “every military objective” of Operation Epic Fury. He also said American forces have stopped using high-end munitions to shoot down Iranian drones and are now relying on lower-cost methods.
