Commander, US Central Command
Appears in 10 stories
Oversees US military operations in the Middle East
Iran fired ballistic missiles and drones at two US airbases in Jordan before dawn Monday; Jordanian air defenses intercepted eight missiles before they reached their targets. The strike came hours after US forces attacked Iranian Revolutionary Guard minelaying units on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, the first American attack on Iranian territory in a month.
Updated Yesterday
Visited the USS Abraham Lincoln on August 15 amid crew reports of food shortages and mental health strain after nine months at sea
President Trump said on August 14 that he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz "a territory of the United States" once Iran is fully defeated. Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, called the claim a "fanciful delusion" the next day, writing that the strait "has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian."
Updated Aug 16
Commanding CENTCOM through active strikes on Iranian radar sites as ceasefire frays
On June 8, a US Navy F/A-18 from USS Abraham Lincoln disabled the Palau-flagged tanker Marivex in the Gulf of Oman, the seventh vessel put out of action since April 13. The next day, a US Army Apache went down near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's IRGC Navy claimed a speedboat shot it down; CENTCOM's investigation remains open.
Updated Jun 9
Leading Operation Epic Fury
Since February 28, the US-Iran war has expanded to include critical water infrastructure. On March 8, Iran struck a Bahrain desalination plant.
Updated May 30
Commanding military operations against Iran
The last time the United States sank Iranian warships was April 18, 1988. Thirty-eight years later, American forces destroyed nine Iranian naval vessels in a single day and demolished the country's naval headquarters at Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman.
Directing operations; overseeing continued leadership decapitation strikes testing air superiority claims
Operation Epic Fury, launched jointly by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026, reached day 39 with the heaviest strikes yet on Iran. The campaign has confirmed over 9,000 targets hit, more than 130 naval vessels destroyed, and at least 55 senior regime leaders killed.
Leading counter-ISIS operations in Syria and Iraq
A lone ISIS gunman killed two Iowa National Guardsmen and a civilian interpreter in Palmyra, Syria, on December 13, 2025—the first American combat deaths since Bashar al-Assad fled the country a year earlier. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded with Operation Hawkeye Strike.
Updated May 16
Coordinating operations with Syrian government
On December 13, 2025, a Syrian security officer allegedly affiliated with ISIS opened fire on US troops near Palmyra, killing two Iowa National Guard members (Staff Sgts. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and William Nathaniel Howard) and interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat. The US responded six days later with Operation Hawkeye Strike: 100 precision munitions against 70 ISIS targets in central Syria via fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery, plus Jordanian F-16s, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called 'a declaration of vengeance.'
Operational lead; argues strikes are required to prevent ISIS external plotting.
In the first post-strike readout of
Updated May 15
Overseeing the operational scaffolding for stabilization coordination
A Gaza force is being designed like it's real, but the December 16 Doha conference exposed disagreements over mandate and composition—U.S. Central Command convened 40+ countries to plan command structure, basing, and rules of engagement, yet failed to achieve consensus. Italy is the only country to formally commit troops; 15 nations declined and Turkey was excluded at Israel's insistence.
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