Washington, United States. The United States has established air superiority over the southern flank of Iran’s coast and is preparing to expand operations inland, the top US commander said on Wednesday, as the death toll surpassed 870 and Iranian missile fire dropped sharply.
US assessment of Iranian strikes
General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran’s ballistic missile strikes had fallen 86 percent from the first day of fighting, including what he called a 23 percent decrease in the last 24 hours. He added that Iranian one-way attack drone strikes were down 73 percent.
Shift in munitions and planned operations
Caine said the destruction of Iranian air defences would allow the US military to reduce its reliance on stand-off munitions, which he described as expensive and in shorter supply, and shift to more plentiful precision guided gravity bombs. He said the transition would increase the pace of what he called an already robust air campaign.
Caine said CENTCOM had achieved localised air superiority along Iran’s southern coast and would begin pushing inland. He said the military was shifting from large stand-off strike packages to stand-in precision strikes.
Continued strikes and allied posture
Caine described Iranian attacks as indiscriminate and imprecise, and said US partners were answering the call to defend themselves. He said CENTCOM would continue to strike Iranian infrastructure and naval capability.
Hegseth comments and troop positioning
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States was winning the war against Iran. He said US air defences and those of its allies had “plenty of runway” and that the US could sustain the fight for as long as needed.
Hegseth said the US had moved 90 percent of American troops out of range of Iranian fire before the war began. Iranian strikes have killed at least six American service members.
Casualties across the region
More than 900 people have been killed in the Middle East since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, officials said. The vast majority died in Iran, but Iranian strikes have also killed people in Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Israel.
How do you think the reported drop in Iranian strikes could affect the next phase of operations?
