IDF Reports ‘Significant’ Progress Against Iranian Military Targets as Campaign Enters Fourth Week

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On Wednesday, during a webinar hosted by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), a Washington-based defense policy think tank, United States Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie (ret.), the former commander of CENTCOM and a JINSA distinguished fellow, said, “This is not something that we’re drawing up on the back of the envelope day to day. These are things that have been studied for many years, were fine-tuned for many years, simulated war-gamed every way that you can. We’ve examined this problem. I have some responsibility for this plan, as does my predecessor, as does my successor. But we’ve been working on this for a long time.”

“I think we’re accomplishing the objectives that we set out. CENTCOM is executing a long, prepared campaign plan,” McKenzie said. The suppression of the ballistic threat remains paramount, he added.

Referring to the Iranian ambition of firing hundreds of missiles per volley at U.S. bases, Gulf allies and Israel, he said, “Largely we have denied them the ability to do that.”

“We’ve been able to take out Iranian air defenses to the degree that I would argue we have effectively air supremacy over most of Iran. And what that has given us the opportunity to do is go hunt for ballistic missiles.”

This air supremacy means that “now you can go north with F-15, F-16, F-18, A-10 to some degree, and of course the B-1,” McKenzie said. The United States also surged ground and maritime forces to the region. The 82nd Airborne and the Marine Expeditionary Unit give the theater commander options to execute amphibious raids against islands, shore targets and oil platforms, the former CENTCOM commander stated.

Addressing the threat to the Strait of Hormuz, McKenzie noted that the U.S. is focusing on steps to clear the strait, including removing Iranian submarines, fast attack craft and anti-ship cruise missiles.

Noting that there are actually two Iranian navies (the standard Iranian Navy and the IRGC naval branch), McKenzie said, “I think both those navies in terms of large combatants are largely gone. We struck them all. So what we’re, I think what we’re doing now is we’re focusing on preparatory steps in order to clear the Strait of Hormuz.”

This would involve neutralizing Iran’s remaining naval threats that could disrupt shipping, including submarines, fast attack craft and small swarm boats operating along the Iranian coastline, as well as coastal anti-ship missile systems positioned to target vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, he said.

“You go after those with slow-moving aircraft, perhaps A-10s, perhaps attack helicopters, perhaps attack them from across the gulf. A variety of weapons systems that we can employ to get after those targets. Also, short-range Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles that have been built, targeted and dug in on the north, on the northern edge of the littoral.”

The former CENTCOM commander stressed that “you don’t have to clear the whole Strait of Hormuz. You’ve got to clear a route that you’re going to bring vessels through. So you’re not clearing every bit of water up there.”

JINSA’s senior vice president for Israeli affairs, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaacov Ayish, former head of the IDF General Staff Operations Branch, added, “When I’m watching carefully what have happened to the nuclear program of the Iranians so far, I’m talking about [‘Operation] Rising Lion’ in June and now, and I’m thinking about the achievements in that area, together with the ballistic missiles capabilities, that is the stockpiles the launchers and the production capabilities—it’s pretty amazing.”

He added, “We wanted to achieve a situation that will allow a regime change in the future in Iran. And I think we are on that track.”

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