The US has destroyed more than 90% of Iran's inventory of around 8,000 naval mines, the commander of US forces in the Middle East told lawmakers on Thursday, in a written statement that did not address Tehran's continued control of the vital Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper said more than 700 airstrikes had eliminated Iran's “once-massive inventory” of sea mines but he did not disclose how many had been laid in the strait versus destroyed in storage or on vessels.
More broadly, Cooper emphasized the number of traditional Iranian military assets US forces had destroyed and downplayed Iran's asymmetric capabilities — including drone attacks on ships and energy facilities in the region — that have appeared to give Iran confidence to brush off President Donald Trump's threats to negotiate an end to the war.
“Iran retains nuisance capability – harassment, low-end drone and rocket attacks, and residual proxy support – but it no longer possesses the means to threaten major regional operations or to deter US freedom of action in the air or maritime domains,” Cooper said in his statement.
Iranian threats of retaliation against commercial ships have effectively shuttered the vital waterway for two and a half months, causing global energy prices to soar and piling pressure on Trump to wind down his unpopular war.
Since the conflict began, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials have repeatedly stressed the number of targets struck — now over 13,000 — and Iranian assets destroyed to showcase Operation Epic Fury's tactical success, even as a strategic victory seemed out of grasp given Tehran's control of the waterway.
The US has also burned through billions of dollars worth of high-value and hard-to-replace munitions in the campaign, even as Iranian drones and missiles have hit US facilities, destroyed US aircraft and hit the energy infrastructure of nearby Gulf states.
“The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, despite brief attempts to escort commercial ships,” the committee's top Democrat, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, said in prepared remarks issued ahead of the hearing, adding that “it is unclear what objectives have been accomplished.”
“Iran's regime is intact,” Reed continued. “Its nuclear material remains in place. The majority of its missiles and launchers have reportedly been recovered. Iran has demonstrated its ability to shut down the Strait. And most importantly, American families are bearing real costs.”
Still, Cooper's statement on maritime mines marked the first time a US defense official has disclosed any meaningful statistics on what's been seen as a key threat to Gulf shipping.
In a statement submitted before his first of two appearances in Congress before defense policy committees, Cooper presented statistics detailing the size, scope and purported results of Operation Epic Fury against Iran, which is now in a tenuous ceasefire that Trump described earlier this week as being on “massive life support”:
- “Across more than 10,200 sorties and over 13,500 strikes, we targeted the full breadth of the regime's ability to project power.”
- “We damaged or destroyed over 85 percent of Iran's ballistic missile, drone, and naval defense industrial base” and “more than 1,450 strikes on weapons manufacturing facilities set the regime's ability to build and stockpile ballistic missiles and long-range drones back by years.”
- More than 2,000 strikes “against Iran's command-and-control structures created leadership vacuums, paralysis, and internal confusion. We have seen reporting of desertions, personnel shortages, and signs of regime desperation in their attempts to compel discipline through arrest and execution.”
- An integrated air defense system US Central Command established at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar “enabled regional allies to intercept over 6,000 one-way attack drones and more than 1,500 ballistic missiles aimed at U.S. forces, Israel, and our Arab partners.”
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