Name: Over 100 Iranian Vessels Destroyed to Protect Strait of Hormuz Shipping: CENTCOM
Uploaded: 2026-03-17T09:24:44.000Z
Description: Adm. Bradley Cooper said that the U.S. military continues to focus on well-defined military objectives, which he said “include eliminating Iran’s ballistic missiles, drones, and naval threats.”

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President Donald Trump said the United States is “aggressively dismantling” Iran’s defense capabilities and “hammering” its capacity to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

During a <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2033579828075454602?s=20">press conference</a> at the White House on Monday, Trump said that more than 100 of Iran’s naval vessels have been sunk and 7,000 targets have been hit. Operation Epic Fury has achieved a 90 percent reduction in Iran’s ballistic missile launches and a 95 percent reduction in drone attacks, he said.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, provided an <a href="https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2033510902532653154">update</a> on Monday on Operation Epic Fury. Adm. Bradley Cooper said that the U.S. military continues to focus on well-defined military objectives, which he said “include eliminating Iran’s ballistic missiles, drones, and naval threats.”

Meanwhile, Trump repeated ​his call for other nations to ‌help unblock the Strait of Hormuz and criticized those countries that he said aren’t willing to provide support. He said he wants ​them to help police the strait ⁠after Iran responded to U.S.–Israeli ​attacks by using drones, missiles, and ​mines to effectively close the channel for the tankers that usually transport a fifth of global ​oil and liquefied natural gas through the narrow shipping channel.

Several U.S. allies said on Monday that they had no immediate plans to ⁠deploy ​ships to unblock ​the strait.

“Some ​are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. ‌Some ⁠are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years. We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they ​weren’t that ​enthusiastic. ⁠And the level of enthusiasm matters to me,” Trump ​said.

Trump also reassured Americans that <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2033595751041839389">oil prices</a> would go down “very, very rapidly” when the conflict is over. The national average for regular gasoline in the United States hit $3.72 per gallon on Monday, according to the American Automobile Association (<a href="https://gasprices.aaa.com/">AAA</a>).

During his update, Trump also said Iran’s new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, hasn’t been seen and may no longer be alive. Khamenei is the son of Ali Khamenei, the former leader who was killed in the initial U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran.

“A lot of people are saying that [Mojtaba Khameni] is badly disfigured,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2033592479136596162">said</a>. “They’re saying that he lost his leg, one leg, and he’s been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he's dead. Nobody is saying he’s a hundred percent healthy.”

Trump also said Iran wants to “make a deal,” but also accused the Islamic regime of using artificial intelligence to push disinformation aimed at misleading the Iranian populace.

<em>Reuters contributed to this report.</em>

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