Iran’s drone assaults ‘down 95%’ as Hegseth declares Operation Epic Fury is still ‘ramping up’
Iranian strikes involving one-way attack drones are drastically dipping as Operation Epic Fury enters its 13th day, according to two senior defense officials who emphasized on Friday that the U.S. and Israel are set to launch their “heaviest” assault across that warzone in a 24-hour timeframe.
“Today will be, yet again, the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran. The number of sorties and number of bomber pulses the highest yet — ramping up and only up,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon, alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
While questions remain regarding the full scope and impact of Epic Fury on Iran’s weapons arsenal and the total U.S. military casualties in the conflict to date, Hegseth and Caine gave reporters an update on the joint op.
“Iran has no air defenses. Iran has no air force. Iran has no navy. Their missiles, their missile launchers and drones [are] being destroyed or shot out of the sky,” Hegseth said. “Their missile volume is down 90%. Their one-way attack drones, yesterday, down 95%.”
Initiated by President Donald Trump on Feb. 28, Epic Fury is billed as a U.S.-led, Israel-coordinated military campaign to destroy Iran’s leadership, ballistic missile and drone capabilities, naval power, and nuclear infrastructure.
Iran has launched deadly drone and missile barrages against U.S. military facilities and other targets around the Middle East in response. It has also hindered maritime traffic near the Strait of Hormuz, holding up a crucial global shipping route for oil and in-demand goods.
“Although there is some traffic moving through there, we’ve made it a priority to target Iran’s mine-laying enterprise — their mine layers, the naval bases and depots, in addition to the missiles that could influence the straits,” Caine said. “[U.S. Central Command] continues to attack those efforts, and we continue to make progress on the industrial base, to include factories [and] weapons warehouses that they are stored in, and we will continue to do so in the coming days — especially today.”
The U.S. has attacked more than 6,000 targets so far amid Epic Fury, with strike packages steadily launching every hour, according to Caine.
“Centcom is now persistently over the enemy. As a result, we’ve seen a reduction in missile and one-way attack fires, as the secretary said, in less than two weeks,” he noted.
In a video posted online March 3, Centcom commander Adm. Brad Cooper said Iran had then used more than 2,000 drones and 500 ballistic missiles in retaliatory strikes against civilian and military targets in the Middle East during the early days of the war.
The total number of drone strikes Iran is deploying or capable of deploying currently — as compared to its capacity earlier into the war — hasn’t been publicly disclosed.
In response to questions on Friday, spokespersons from the Pentagon and Joint Staff referred DefenseScoop to Centcom.
A Centcom official declined to provide hard numbers about how many drone strikes were launched by Iran in any recent 24-hour timeframe, or over the course of the conflict.
However, they echoed senior officials’ claims that there has been a significant degradation in Iran’s arsenal of drones, launchers, and infrastructure to produce and sustain a robust associated supply chain since the start of Epic Fury.
Speaking to America’s current capacity, Hegseth said on Friday: “Quantity has a quality of its own as we continue to ramp up every tool of AI, of cyber, of space, [electronic warfare and counter-drone capabilities] — you name it, we’re employing it.”
The U.S. and Israel are continuing to target assets associated with Iran’s defense industrial base and ability to attack commercial vessels at-sea at an intensifying rate.
“This mission remains complex, dangerous and difficult,” Caine said of American troops. “And every service member has a family waiting for them to return home.”
He and Hegseth did not supply answers regarding the total number of U.S. military casualties in Epic Fury as of March 13.
Public reports suggest that the operation has left more than 140 service members wounded, and that at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed — seven in Iranian attacks and six in an incident involving refueling aircraft.
