{"id":514639,"date":"2026-03-04T22:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514639\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T22:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:33:08","slug":"us-iran-missile-launches-down-86-23-over-last-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514639\/","title":{"rendered":"US: Iran missile launches down 86%, 23% over last day"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Central Command (CENTCOM<\/a>) is making “steady progress” in Operation Epic Fury<\/a>‘s strikes against the Iranian regime, including heavily reducing its ability to launch ballistic missiles and drones, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine said in a press statement at the Pentagon on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“Iran’s theater ballistic missile shots fired are down 86% from the first day of fighting, with a 23% decrease in the last 24 hours,” Caine said, adding that Iran’s<\/a> “one-way attack drone shots are down 73% from the opening days.”<\/p>\n

CENTCOM initially established “localized air superiority across the southern flank of Iran’s coast, and penetrated their defenses with overwhelming precision and firepower, and will now expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory – creating additional freedom of maneuver for US forces,” Caine stated.<\/p>\n

Further, the US military has attacked and attrited Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities and integrated air defense capabilities in southern Iran, he noted.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Israel Air Force “predominantly” worked against integrated air defense targets along the northern flank, and against Iran’s medium-range ballistic missile capabilities, Caine continued.<\/p>\n

The American general also discussed the US Navy’s ability to project combat power from the sea, asserting that the USS Gerald R Ford has continued to launch bombers and project combat power in the Gulf.<\/p>\n

The USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Group pressured Iran from the southeast and attrited the regime’s naval capabilities, Caine added.<\/p>\n

CENTCOM hits over 2,000 targets, destroys 20 vessels<\/p>\n

CENTCOM, so far, has struck over 2,000 regime targets and destroyed over 20 Iranian naval vessels<\/a>, he continued.<\/p>\n

This includes attacking a naval vessel in the Indian Ocean, which included a US Navy fast-attack submarine using a torpedo to sink a ship for the first time since World War II.<\/p>\n

“I want to remind everybody that this is an incredible demonstration of America’s global reach. To hunt, find, and kill an out-of-area deployer is something that only the US can do at this type of scale,” Caine said, adding that CENTCOM will “continue to strike infrastructure and naval capability and will continue to assess our progress against the military objectives.”<\/p>\n

Iran is being “indiscriminate and imprecise” in its attacks, including firing over 500 missiles and 2,000 drones on “innocent civilian targets throughout the region,” with America’s partners “answering the call to defend themselves right alongside us,” he stated.<\/p>\n

Caine went on to say how Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have taken actions to defend themselves from Iranian attacks on their territory.<\/p>\n

“Together, these nations are helping to defend themselves and project power as required against the enemy,” he said.<\/p>\n

Caine also stated three aims that the US military is pursuing to defeat Iran.<\/p>\n

“First, we are targeting and eliminating Iran’s ballistic missile systems to prevent them from threatening the US, our forces, partners, and interests in the region,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Second, we are destroying the Iranian navy, degrading its capacity, capability, and ability to conduct operations, not just in the Central Command Area of Operations, but around the world,” he continued.<\/p>\n

And third, “ensuring Iran cannot rapidly rebuild or reconstitute its combat capability or combat power, and those phases will begin as the campaign continues,” he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US Central Command (CENTCOM) is making “steady progress” in Operation Epic Fury‘s strikes against the Iranian regime, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3846,203955,44420,43,87305,203954,58088,202380,54972,8722,44,201956,202552,17267,13341,27132,41,39,42,40,15797],"class_list":{"0":"post-514639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-bahrain","9":"tag-centcom","10":"tag-drone","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-iaf","13":"tag-iran-missiles","14":"tag-irgc","15":"tag-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps","16":"tag-israeli-air-force","17":"tag-jordan","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-operation-epic-fury","20":"tag-operation-roaring-lion","21":"tag-qatar","22":"tag-saudi-arabia","23":"tag-tehran","24":"tag-top-news","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topnews","27":"tag-topstories","28":"tag-uae"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}