U.S. Central Command announced on Monday that military forces have now struck over 9,000 targets inside Iran.

As Operation Epic Fury continues, America has pushed a relentless air, sea, and land campaign to dismantle the Iranian regime’s military and neutralize any threats to international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

According to CENTCOM’s March 23 update, American forces have now launched more than 9,000 combat flights and “damaged or destroyed” over 140 Iranian vessels since the operation began on February 28.

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The numbers have jumped sharply since the last update on March 12, when CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper reported that U.S. forces had already struck more than 5,500 targets and destroyed over 60 ships.

Cooper described the mid-March stretch as one of the most intense periods of the campaign, with American military operations launching strikes “nearly every hour from different locations and directions into Iran.” Among some of the key targets hit was a large ballistic missile manufacturing facility destroyed by American bombers.

Cooper has called the pace of Operation Epic Fury: “unpredictable, dynamic and decisive.”

The targets essentially span across all of Iran’s military branches, including command and control centers, intelligence sites, ballistic missile sites, air defense systems,  weapons production and storage bunkers, and military communication networks, according to CENTCOM’s latest release.

The air campaign has used a wide variety of American planes and drones, including B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers; F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters; surveillance drones; and MQ-9 attack drones.

Naval assets, including nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as guided-missile destroyers, have supported operations at sea.

On the ground, the U.S. has also deployed a network of missile defense systems, along with rocket artillery units and counter-drone systems.

One of the campaign’s biggest milestones came earlier this month, when Cooper announced the destruction of the last of Iran’s four Soleimani-class warships – eliminating an entire class of Iranian naval vessels from the battlefield. First delivered to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy in 2022, the guided-missile carriers were the first Iranian warships capable of firing modern surface-to-air missiles, making them a priority target.

The results are measurable: since Operation Epic Fury began, Iran’s ballistic missile attacks have reportedly decreased by 90%, and drone attacks have dropped by 83%.

Strait of Hormuz Remains a Flashpoint

Despite those gains, the Strait of Hormuz remains a very volatile and valuable shipping channel. Located between the southern coast of Iran and the northern tip of the UAE, the strait essentially bottlenecks the Persian Gulf, and shipping routes incoming from the Arabian Sea.

Roughly 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the narrow waterway, and Iran’s remaining forces have continued to fight for its control.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported earlier this month that an unknown projectile struck three commercial vessels transiting the strait, and a Thailand-flagged cargo ship, the Mayuree Naree, sustained an engine room fire in a separate incident, with Iran claiming responsibility. However, those reports are a drop in the bucket of the combat the channel has seen over the past few weeks.

CENTCOM has reported that America has destroyed 16 Iranian minelayer ships operating near the strait that had been seeding the waterway with mines. Previous intelligence reports have claimed that Iran is holding onto a stockpile of mines, and the fast-attack vessels used to deploy them remain difficult to track in the strait’s heavy traffic. In response, CENTCOM warned civilians to evacuate Iranian ports along the strait, stating that civilian ports used for military operations could lose their protected status under international law.

Trump has since reaffirmed his confident stance on the strait’s future, vowing that oil tankers going through the waterway would have “great safety” – while also issuing a direct ultimatum to Tehran to clear the mines immediately.

The Human Cost

The campaign has not come without sacrifice. As of March 8, around 140 American troops have been wounded – at least eight severely – and 7 U.S. service members have been killed, per The Military Times.

CENTCOM has been clear about the mission’s objectives: dismantle Iran’s ability to project power and keep the Strait of Hormuz open to international commerce. With over 9,000 targets now struck and Iran’s missile and drone threat significantly degraded, American forces appear to be advancing toward that goal.