00:00Good afternoon.
00:01I'm Admiral Brad Cooper, the Commander of United States Central Command.
00:04In this capacity, I lead U.S. military forces in the Middle East.
00:09I'm here to provide you an update on Operation Epic Fury, now on our fourth day of execution.
00:14First, I'd like to express my deepest condolences to the families and teammates of the extraordinary
00:19Americans who have been killed in action, and I'd also like to extend our prayers for
00:24a speedy recovery to the wounded.
00:26Yesterday, you heard from Secretary Higsethe and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
00:30Today, I'd like to give you an operational update on where we are and provide you with
00:35some key facts.
00:36By order of the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, our military in the
00:40Middle East is undertaking an unprecedented operation to eliminate Iran's ability to
00:45threaten Americans, as they've been doing for nearly half a century.
00:49Having spent more than 36 years in the military, I could not be prouder of America's sons and
00:54daughters in uniform who are answering the call.
00:57More than 50,000 troops, 200 fighters, two aircraft carriers, and bombers from the United
01:03States are participating in this operation, and more capability is on the way.
01:07These forces bring a massive amount of firepower, representing the largest buildup by the U.S.
01:12Central Command Forces in the Middle East in a generation.
01:15In the opening hours of Operation Epic Fury, U.S. Central Command Forces, together with Israel,
01:20delivered overwhelming and unprecedented strikes into Iran.
01:24Many of you may remember the shock and awe strikes of 2003.
01:28The first 24 hours of this operation were nearly double the scale, and we continue with 24-7 strikes
01:34into Iran from seabed to space and cyberspace.
01:37Now, we're less than 100 hours into this operation, and we've already struck nearly 2,000 targets
01:43with more than 2,000 munitions.
01:46We have severely degraded Iran's air defenses and destroyed hundreds of Iran's ballistic missiles,
01:52launchers, and drones.
01:53And in simple terms, we're focused on shooting all the things that can shoot at us.
01:58Our B-2 bombers and B-1 bombers have executed uncontested surgical strikes against multiple missile
02:04facilities deep inside Iran. And then just last night, a B-52 bomber force struck ballistic missile
02:10in command and control posts.
02:12We are also sinking the Iranian Navy, the entire Navy. Thus far, we've destroyed 17 Iranian ships,
02:19including the most operational Iranian submarine that now has a hole in its side.
02:24For decades, the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping.
02:28Today, there's not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf,
02:32Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman. And we will not stop. We will continue to conduct dynamic
02:38targeting operations. We're hunting Iran's last remaining mobile ballistic missile launchers
02:43to eliminate what I would characterize as their lingering launch capability.
02:48Now, in retaliation, the Iranian regime has launched over 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones.
02:54To be clear, Iran is indiscriminately targeting civilians as they launch these missiles and drones.
03:00You've seen it on TV. The evidence is crystal clear and overwhelming.
03:04Having said this, we are seeing Iran's ability to hit us and our partners is declining,
03:10while our combat power, on the other hand, is building. And my overall operational assessment
03:15is that we are ahead of our game plan. Along the way, every single branch of our military
03:19is achieving unprecedented success. I'll talk about just a few of them.
03:24Our naval forces have deployed multiple waves of cruise missiles,
03:27obliterating Iranian command and control and air defense capabilities.
03:31From two aircraft carrier strike groups, we're squeezing Iran from the sea
03:35and have them backed into their own ports. U.S. Air Forces are doing what they do best,
03:40executing a high volume of air strikes right into Iran. Operationally, the two most powerful air
03:47forces in the world, the U.S. and Israel, are dominating the skies over the world's largest
03:52state sponsor of terror. Our U.S. Army soldiers are defending ourselves and our partners and in
03:57historic first, the U.S. Army fired long-range precision strike missiles called PRISMS in combat,
04:03providing an unrivaled deep strike capability. Also for the first time, U.S. Central Command's drone
04:09task force called Task Force Scorpion Strike launched countless one-way attack drones,
04:14achieving massive effects. I'd like to point out these drones were originally an Iranian design.
04:20We took them back to America, made them better, and fired them right back at Iran.
04:25I just could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform, leveraging innovation to create
04:30dilemmas for the enemy. There is no adversary to determine, no mission too difficult for the great
04:36soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, guardians, and coast guardsmen that make up the most powerful
04:41military the world has ever seen. Our military objectives are crystal clear, and our people are
04:47executing an immensely complex and historic mission with relentless lethality, conviction,
04:52and professionalism. And we've just begun. But I have the utmost confidence that we,
04:57alongside our partners, will absolutely achieve our military objectives. To all our warriors,
05:02Godspeed. Thanks so much.
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