CENTCOM chief says Iran's hold on strait has weakened, but threats remain

Washington — The caput of U.S. forces successful the Middle East told senators that the bombing run against Iran, named Operation Epic Fury, achieved each of its objectives to "significantly degrade" the country's subject capabilities, adjacent arsenic Tehran continues to assertion power of the Strait of Hormuz.

Admiral Brad Cooper of U.S. Central Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee that U.S. forces person destroyed much than 90% of Iran's inventory of 8,000 naval mines to forestall their deployment successful the strait. But helium acknowledged Iran inactive maintains immoderate capabilities to endanger ships. 

"The Iranian quality to halt commerce has been dramatically degraded done the straits, but their dependable is precise loud, and those threats are intelligibly heard by the merchant manufacture and the security industry," Cooper said Thursday.  

In effect to questions from senators of some parties, Cooper said the U.S. has options to reopen the Strait of Hormuz militarily but said that is simply a determination for policymakers, acknowledging that the important waterway is astatine the halfway of ongoing negotiations aimed astatine a semipermanent bid deal.

Admiral Brad Cooper, commandant of U.S. Central Command, testifies astatine a Senate Armed Services Committee proceeding connected Capitol Hill successful Washington, D.C., connected May 14, 2026. Win McNamee / Getty Images

When asked however agelong the struggle is expected to continue, Cooper pointed retired the ceasefire reached connected April 7 remains successful effect, contempt the ongoing U.S. Navy's blockade of Iranian ports and exchanges of occurrence past week. The medication has told Congress that "hostilities" with Iran person "terminated."

In his written testimony, Cooper said Operation Epic Fury had damaged oregon destroyed much than 85% of Iran's ballistic missile, drone and naval concern basal done much than 1,450 strikes connected weapons-manufacturing facilities. He told senators that it would instrumentality Iran "a generation" to rebuild its navy and years for its drone and rocket accumulation to recover.

He said caller reporting that Iran retains astir 70% of its ballistic rocket inventory is inaccurate, but declined to get into specifics due to the fact that details are classified. CBS News reported successful April that Iran retained astatine slightest fractional of its ballistic missiles and launchers.

Cooper said that betwixt November and December 2025, U.S. Central Command started "to spot an summation successful Iran's capableness and intent" to nutrient much ballistic missiles. He said this presented "a precise important risk" that factored into the objectives of Operation Epic Fury.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia noted that the Senate Armed Services Committee has not seen the sentiment produced by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel that justified the president's authorization to motorboat strikes against Iran. 

"We're being asked to money a $1.5 trillion budget, but our petition of the DOJ to spot the OLC sentiment justifying this warfare — they person refused to let members of the Armed Services Committee to spot it," Kaine said. "If they volition not let america to spot the ineligible rationale for the war, what are they hiding?"

GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the panel's chairman, noted that Cooper would not beryllium the idiosyncratic to supply that sentiment since helium is not a policymaker.

Cooper deflected questions from Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan connected whether China and Russia are giving quality to Iran, saying they should sermon the substance successful a classified setting.