CENTCOM Chief Cooper Pushed to Pause Hormuz Strikes
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- Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, recommended stopping the bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz because it had reached the limit of its effectiveness, sources said; his recommendation, alongside other advisers, impacted Trump's Friday decision to pause strikes against Iran.
- For the first time in two weeks, Trump ordered the military to hold fire on strikes against Iranian targets around southern Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, after earlier in the week leaning toward returning to major combat operations.
- Cooper told the Pentagon, joint chiefs and White House that two weeks of strikes had significantly degraded Iran's ability to attack ships and that designated bombing targets had been mostly exhausted.
- Cooper said a possible next step would be resuming major combat operations to finish the 20% of targets designated but not struck during Operation Epic Fury; absent that decision, he argued there was no point continuing the two-week bombing campaign.
- Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, privately cautioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump that a shortage of air defense interceptors could hamper the ability to protect U.S. forces and allies in the region.
- Iran and Oman are still negotiating a new arrangement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for ship transit without attacks, though it remains unclear if such a deal would be acceptable to Trump; U.S. ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said the president is 'giving talks some space' while keeping all options open.
- The U.S. and U.K. are still discussing an international conference later this week on establishing a coalition to protect and clear mines from the strait, with no final date set.
Why it matters: Cooper's recommendation reveals that Trump's senior military leadership concluded the air campaign around Hormuz had largely exhausted its target list, with only 20% of designated strikes during Operation Epic Fury still unfinished. Combined with Caine's warning that air defense interceptors are running short, the pause narrows the escalatory path and elevates the leverage of the parallel Iran-Oman negotiations to reopen the strait for shipping.
