Day 7 of Operation Epic Fury: US Destroys 200 Targets, Sinks 30+ Iranian Ships, Strikes Drone Carrier Still Ablaze

TAMPA / TEHRAN — The joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran reached a new crescendo on Thursday as US Central Command (CENTCOM) delivered a sweeping battlefield update, claiming devastating results across air, naval, and strategic domains on the operation’s seventh day.
200 Targets Hit in 72 Hours
CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper, speaking alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, Florida, confirmed that America’s bomber force had struck nearly 200 targets deep inside Iran over the past 72 hours, targeting Iranian missile launchers and infrastructure as part of Operation Epic Fury. 
In just the last hour of the briefing, US B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped dozens of 2,000-pound penetrator bombs on deeply buried ballistic missile launchers — the most powerful conventional strikes yet reported in the campaign. The US also struck what Cooper described as Iran’s “equivalent of Space Command,” further degrading Tehran’s ability to threaten American forces. 
30 Ships Sunk, Drone Carrier Ablaze
“We’re now up over 30 ships,” Admiral Cooper declared, referring to the total number of Iranian naval vessels the US has sunk or destroyed. “And in just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier, and as we speak, it’s on fire.” 
Earlier in the week, Hegseth had announced the sinking of a “Soleimani-class warship” using a submarine torpedo — the first sinking of an enemy warship by torpedo since World War II. 
Iran’s Offensive Capability in Freefall
Iran’s rate of fire has dropped dramatically since the conflict began: ballistic missile attacks are down 90% and drone attacks are down 83% from the war’s opening day, according to Cooper. “Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation,” Cooper said. 
Firepower Set to Surge
Hegseth warned that the pace of strikes is set to intensify further. “The amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically — more fighter squadrons, more capabilities, more bomber pulses more frequently,” he said. 
Cooper added that the transition to the next phase of operations would focus on systematically dismantling Iran’s missile production capability for the long term: “This is going to take some time, but our forces are well supplied.” 
Iran has not independently confirmed the figures cited by CENTCOM. Iranian state media continues to report ongoing retaliatory strikes against US and Israeli targets across the region.