Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, recommended halting the bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz after two weeks of strikes, telling senior officials that the operation had exhausted its potential, according to sources briefed on his position.
Cooper's assessment directly shaped President Trump's decision Friday to pause strikes against Iranian targets in the region. The recommendation reflected a consensus among military and civilian advisers that air power alone had reached its limits in accomplishing stated objectives.
Earlier in the week, Cooper presented his analysis to the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the White House. He outlined the results of Operation Epic Fury: Iranian capabilities to threaten shipping had been significantly degraded, and designated bombing targets were largely exhausted. Cooper stressed there was no strategic benefit to continuing the current bombing campaign without escalating to full-scale combat operations needed to strike the remaining 20 percent of targets identified but not yet hit.
Trump had been moving toward resuming major combat operations through much of the week, but his position shifted Thursday evening. By Friday, after a meeting with top military officials presenting a new strike plan, he ordered the military to stand down.
General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also voiced concerns in private conversations with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump. Caine warned that shortages of air defense interceptors could undermine U.S. and allied ability to defend themselves in the region, a caution first reported by the New York Times.
The pause reflects an unusual moment of restraint in an otherwise escalatory pattern. Both the U.S. and Iran have halted active strikes, creating what sources describe as a "quiet for quiet" situation on the ground. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said on Sunday that while Trump maintains "all options on the table," the administration is providing diplomatic channels room to operate.
Waltz told NBC's Meet the Press that talks between the U.S. and Iran "are ongoing on every level." Separately, Iran and Oman are negotiating arrangements to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for commercial shipping without attacks. However, it remains unclear whether any agreement between the two countries would satisfy Trump's strategic goals.
The U.S. and U.K. are planning an international conference later this week to build a coalition focused on protecting the strait and clearing mines from its waters. No final date has been set.
Author James Rodriguez: "When a field commander tells the president there's nothing left to bomb, that's a reality check nobody can spin. The real question now is whether diplomacy holds or if we're just taking a breath before the next phase."
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