The White House declared the Iranian regime had been “utterly crushed” as US officials outlined the scope of ongoing military operations against Iran and Israeli authorities reported thousands of strikes carried out since the campaign began.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters that “under President Trump’s leadership, the rogue Iranian terror regime has been utterly crushed. Forty-seven years of tolerance and allowing the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism to operate freely have come to an end.”
She added, “Iran’s murderous terror leaders are paying for their crimes against America, and they are paying in blood.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US Operation Epic Fury was progressing toward its stated objectives. “We are on track to achieve the goals of the operation, to destroy their missile launchers and factories and also their fleet so they will never be able to hide behind them to develop nuclear weapons.”
US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces have attacked or sunk 20 Iranian vessels during the campaign. CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper said precision long-range missiles had been used against Iran for the first time in the operation, adding, “I couldn’t be more proud of our people in uniform.
However, the Pentagon’s supply of precision weapons is being rapidly depleted less than a week into the strikes, reported the Washington Post, citing three sources familiar with the matter. The accelerated use of advanced air defense systems could soon force the US military to prioritize which threats it can intercept.
Israeli officials also described the scale of their operations and disclosed that 5,000 munitions had been used in strikes on Iran since the beginning of the campaign.
During a visit to the Intelligence Division alongside Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder and other senior officers, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iranian leadership had been caught off guard by the breadth of the operation. He said Tehran “could not assess the scope, breadth and depth of the intelligence down to the last target, and the operational capability to exploit the intelligence to strike, attack, destroy and demolish their capabilities.”
