Washington, DC — The US military has struck an Iranian vessel described by CENTCOM as a “drone carrier,” and footage released by the command shows the ship on fire after sustaining a direct hit, CENTCOM said on X as the combined US‑Israeli operation entered its seventh day.
CENTCOM characterized the targeted vessel as roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier. The exact location of the engagement was not disclosed, but the released video depicts thick smoke billowing from the ship after the strike.
CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said US forces have hit nearly 200 targets inside Iran over the past 72 hours, significantly degrading Tehran’s missile and drone capabilities. The campaign, named Operation Epic Fury, has focused on ballistic missile launchers and related infrastructure, he said.
“In just the last 72 hours, America’s bomber force has struck nearly 200 targets deep inside of Iran,” Cooper said, adding that B‑2 Spirit bombers recently dropped multiple 2,000‑pound penetrator bombs against deeply buried ballistic missile launchers.
According to Cooper, these strikes have reduced Iranian retaliatory activity: he claimed ballistic missile attacks have decreased by about 90 percent and drone attacks by about 83 percent since the operation began. He also said US forces have destroyed more than 30 ships during the campaign.
Cooper further said the scope of the campaign has been expanded to target Iran’s longer‑term missile production capacity on orders from US President Donald Trump, with the stated aim of destroying the industrial base that would allow Iran to rebuild its ballistic missile program.
He also described a program that repurposed a captured Iranian drone design, called LUCAS. Cooper said US forces reverse‑engineered the system, produced a US version and redeployed it against Iranian forces.
The comments come amid rising tensions following, the report says, a joint US‑Israel strike on February 28 that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior figures — an action the report says prompted fierce Iranian retaliation. Iran has, according to the same reporting, launched waves of drone and missile attacks targeting American bases across multiple Arab countries, while Israel has continued strikes on Tehran and expanded operations into Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.
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