Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed at the Pentagon that Iran mounted a sustained and determined campaign to destroy the USS Abraham Lincoln during Operation Epic Fury — firing hundreds of ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones at the American aircraft carrier in wave after wave of strikes — and failed to register a single hit, with every projectile intercepted miles before reaching its target.
“Iran shot hundreds and hundreds of missiles and attack one-way attack drones at our aircraft carrier. They were obsessed with it and they never got even close,” Hegseth said. “Every single one of those shots easily shot down miles and miles away from the Abe Lincoln. They were blowing ammo into fantasy land.”
The attempted destruction of the USS Abraham Lincoln appeared to represent one of Iran’s primary strategic objectives throughout the campaign — a symbolic and military prize whose loss, had it been achieved, would have carried enormous consequences. Instead, the effort exposed the complete inadequacy of Iranian offensive capabilities when matched against US and allied air defense systems.
The implications of the failed campaign extended well beyond the immediate tactical outcome. By expending hundreds of missiles and drones in a sustained and unsuccessful campaign against a single American naval vessel, Iran rapidly depleted the very stockpiles that constituted the core of its offensive deterrent. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine noted that in addition to the failed strikes against the carrier, US forces struck more than 450 ballistic missile storage facilities and 800 one-way attack drone storage facilities — systematically eliminating Iran’s reserves at the same time they were being expended in combat.
The combined effect was the functional destruction of Iran’s missile program. Hegseth confirmed that Iran can no longer build missiles, rockets, launchers, or UAVs — its factories have been razed, its stockpiles depleted, and its production capability eliminated. What little remains, Hegseth noted, is buried in bunkers and represents the entirety of what Iran will ever have going forward.
General Caine provided the broader interception figures for context. Across the full duration of the campaign, US and Gulf partner forces intercepted 1,700 Iranian ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones — a figure that testified both to the scale of the Iranian offensive effort and the effectiveness of the multilayered American and allied defense architecture that stopped every one of them.
The partners who contributed to those interceptions — including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan — were specifically acknowledged by General Caine for their role in defending US forces, allied assets, and civilian populations throughout the campaign.
Hegseth characterized the carrier episode as a defining illustration of the broader military mismatch at the heart of the conflict. Iran had invested enormous resources in missiles and drones specifically designed to threaten American naval power. When those weapons were finally unleashed in combat against the platform they were built to destroy, they accomplished nothing……See More
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