CENTCOM Chief Says Iran's Navy Is 'All at the Bottom of the Sea'

The top U.S. commander in the Middle East said Friday that Iran’s navy is no longer patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, telling Americans in a new video that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was nowhere to be seen during his flight over the vital waterway this week.

“Here’s what I didn’t see: I didn’t see the IRGC out there, at all,” Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in the video posted to CENTCOM’s X account, according to Iran International. “They were not out there because Iran’s Navy is all at the bottom of the sea.”

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper says he flew over the Strait of Hormuz this week and saw no IRGC boats. "Iran's navy is all at the bottom of the sea," he said, adding U.S. forces cleared the main shipping lanes of mines. Iran claims ships hit mines there.

via @CENTCOM pic.twitter.com/QtkScAIM4R

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Cooper said he flew over the strait earlier this week and saw dozens of commercial vessels moving through the area along with U.S. military assets in the air and on the water, Middle East Eye reported.

Shipping lanes cleared, blockade holding

Cooper said U.S. forces had cleared the strait’s internationally recognized primary transit routes of Iranian sea mines, CBS News reported. “And today, U.S. forces remain highly vigilant and present to ensure that all primary transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz remain free and clear,” he said, according to CBS News.

The admiral said U.S. forces had helped Gulf partners export more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil since the summer, while the U.S. naval blockade had kept Iran from exporting oil through the strait, according to CBS News. This Is Beirut reported that Cooper described the measure as an “ironclad blockade” of Iranian ports.

Iran International reported that Cooper also said more than 50,000 U.S. service members are supporting operations across the Middle East.

For decades, Cooper said, the IRGC “patrolled the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters” while “harassing and threatening and seizing commercial vessels at will,” according to CBS News.

Tehran tells a different story

Iran disputes the American account. CBS News reported that Iran claims six commercial vessels have hit sea mines on the U.S.-backed southern route in the past couple of days, and that the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations center said Thursday evening that a tanker was struck by a projectile in the strait. CBS News said it was unclear whether that ship was one of the vessels Iran said had struck mines.

The IRGC also said it had stopped two tankers trying to cross the southern part of the waterway, accusing them of using “unauthorised routes” with U.S. military support, Middle East Eye reported. Iran International reported that the IRGC claimed a supertanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of oil was left burning at the entrance to the strait. Those Iranian claims have not been independently confirmed.

Why it matters

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important energy chokepoints in the world, and control of it has been at the center of the conflict between Washington and Tehran. Cooper’s message comes as President Trump said Friday that the war with Iran is “going to end soon,” without saying how, while Qatari mediators returned to Tehran to push for a peace deal, according to CBS News.

For American sailors and aviators keeping those lanes open, Cooper’s video was a pointed message to Tehran and to the shipping world: the U.S. Navy, not the IRGC, is the force on the water.

Sources

• U.S. Central Command video on X
• CBS News
• Iran International
• Middle East Eye
• This Is Beirut

Reporting by Daily Beltway.