United States Central Command (CENTCOM)

Force in Play

Executing sustained air campaign; maintaining air superiority; coordinating with 2,500 additional Marines and USS Tripoli deployment; evaluating ground operations

Operation Epic Fury, launched jointly by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026, has escalated dramatically into its third week with expanded targeting, regional escalation to Gulf state civilian infrastructure, and the first significant fracture within the Trump administration's national security apparatus. By March 17, the campaign had struck more than 15,000 Iranian targets using precision munitions, destroyed over 20 Iranian naval vessels including the country's top submarine, and killed 49 senior Iranian regime leaders including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. On March 13, US forces executed a large-scale precision strike on Kharg Island—Iran's critical oil export hub—destroying 90+ military targets including naval mine storage facilities and missile bunkers while deliberately preserving oil infrastructure as a strategic warning. Iran has retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones across the Persian Gulf region, killing at least 13 American service members and escalating attacks on non-US targets in neighboring Gulf states, including fatal strikes on Abu Dhabi and drone attacks near Dubai's airport and Fujairah Oil Industry Zone. On March 17, Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, became the first senior Trump administration official to resign over the war, stating Iran "posed no imminent threat" and that the US entered the conflict "due to pressure from Israel." The operation represents the largest sustained US aerial campaign in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion, but now faces mounting questions about its legal basis, military end state, and whether an air war can achieve the administration's promise of "freedom for Iran."

Updated 3 hours ago

Force in Play

Conducting Operation Epic Fury across the Middle East

A missile struck the helipad inside the United States Embassy compound in Baghdad on March 14, destroying part of the air defense system designed to shoot down exactly this kind of incoming fire. The Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar system, its radar station, and a satellite communications array were all knocked out, leaving the largest US embassy in the world significantly more vulnerable to the hundreds of attacks that Iran-aligned militias have launched since the US and Israel began striking Iran on February 28.

Updated 3 days ago

Force in Play

Leading Operation Epic Fury

Ali Khamenei ruled Iran as supreme leader for 36 years until joint US-Israeli strikes on February 28, 2026, killed him along with family members and multiple top military and intelligence officials at his Tehran compound, triggering an opaque succession process under fire. With the Assembly of Experts’ Qom site damaged in Israeli strikes and its deliberations driven underground, acting leader Ali Larijani faces a power vacuum in which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ interim command council is trying to preserve operational control while missiles and drones continue to fly across the region.

Updated Mar 7

Force in Play

Consolidating Middle East presence; focused on Syria ISIS operations

The United States returned to Iraq in 2014 after ISIS captured Mosul and threatened Baghdad. Twelve years later, American forces completed their withdrawal from federal Iraqi territory on January 17, 2026, with the Iraqi Army assuming full control of Al-Asad Air Base in Anbar province. The facility once housed up to 5,000 coalition troops and survived Iranian missile strikes in 2020. Roughly 2,000 US troops remain in Iraq's Kurdistan region and Syria to continue counter-ISIS operations through at least September 2026.

Updated Jan 19