Day 12: The War Shifts to Iran’s Coastline
The United States just put Iran’s entire coastline on notice.
On March 11, U.S. Central Command issued a stark warning that would have been unthinkable just two weeks ago: civilian ports along the Strait of Hormuz used by Iranian military forces have lost their protected status and are now “legitimate military targets under international law.”
The warning came as CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper revealed that American forces have now struck more than 5,500 targets inside Iran since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28 — including the destruction of an entire class of Iranian warships.
“We also took out the last of four Soleimani-class warships,” Cooper said in a video briefing posted to social media. “That’s an entire class of Iranian ships now out of the fight.”
Iran’s Navy: Effectively Destroyed
The numbers are staggering. Since the joint U.S.-Israeli offensive launched on February 28, American forces have targeted and destroyed more than 60 Iranian ships, according to Admiral Cooper’s update.
The Soleimani-class guided missile catamarans — Iran’s most advanced warships, first delivered to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy in 2022 and capable of launching medium-range surface-to-air missiles via vertical launch systems — are now gone. Every single one.
Cooper described the pace of operations as relentless: on March 10 alone, the U.S. military launched “strike waves nearly every hour from different locations and directions going into Iran,” with the bomber force taking out a large ballistic missile manufacturing facility.
Iran’s offensive capability is cratering. According to Pentagon figures, Iran’s ballistic missile attacks are down more than 90% and drone attacks have dropped approximately 85% since the start of Operation Epic Fury.
The Port Warning: A Major Escalation
The most significant development on Day 12 may not be the strike count — it’s the warning about ports.
CENTCOM’s statement, issued from its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, urged Iranian civilians to “immediately avoid all port facilities where Iranian naval forces are operating.”
The logic is coldly straightforward: the IRGC has been staging military operations — including attacks on international shipping — from civilian port facilities along the Strait of Hormuz. Under international law, that dual-use converts those ports from protected civilian infrastructure into valid military targets.
“Civilian ports used for military purposes lose protected status and become legitimate military targets under international law,” the CENTCOM press release stated.
This is not an empty threat. The U.S. military has already demonstrated its willingness to strike deep into Iran’s infrastructure, and this warning signals that Iranian port cities could be next if the IRGC doesn’t pull its forces out.
Iran’s Hormuz Hypocrisy: 12 Million Barrels Secretly Shipped to China
While Iran publicly threatens to block every drop of oil from leaving the Middle East, satellite data tells a very different story.
According to CNBC, citing data from TankerTrackers.com — which monitors vessel movements via satellite imagery — Iran has shipped at least 11.7 million barrels of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began. Every single barrel was headed to China.
“Many vessels have ‘gone dark’ after Tehran threatened to attack any vessel attempting to pass through the waterway,” CNBC reported. But Iran’s own tankers are slipping through — some Iranian-flagged, others with transponders deliberately switched off.
Shipping intelligence provider Kpler estimates approximately 12 million barrels have passed through the strait since February 28, with China as the primary destination.
The irony is impossible to miss: Iran threatens to destroy any ship that enters the Strait of Hormuz while simultaneously using that same waterway to fund its war effort by selling oil to Beijing.
President Trump addressed the contradiction bluntly, telling Fox News that ships stranded near the strait need to “show some guts” and push through. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, they have no Navy, we sunk all their ships,” Trump said.
The Human Cost
The war is not without American casualties.
Since Operation Epic Fury began, roughly 140 U.S. troops have been wounded — eight of them severely — according to the Pentagon. Seven service members have been killed in action.
Six died on March 1 when an Iranian one-way attack drone struck a makeshift operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait. A seventh service member succumbed to injuries on March 8 sustained during an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
On the Iranian side, the toll is far higher. Tehran claims that nearly 10,000 civilian sites have been struck by U.S. and Israeli forces, including about 8,000 residential homes, with a death toll exceeding 1,300 people, according to Iran’s Red Crescent Society.
The Strait of Hormuz: A Maritime Warzone
The narrow waterway that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil has become a full-blown battleground.
On March 11 alone, the UK Maritime Trade Operations announced that three shipping vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz were hit by unknown projectiles. At least 10 vessels in or near the strait have come under Iranian attack since the war began, killing at least seven seafarers, according to the International Maritime Organization.
Iran’s IRGC declared it would not allow “one litre of oil” to be exported from the Middle East while U.S. and Israeli attacks continue. CENTCOM responded by destroying 16 Iranian minelayers near the strait on March 10 — Iran had reportedly laid about a dozen mines in the waterway.
The global response has been unprecedented: 32 countries agreed to release oil reserves in the largest coordinated reserve release in history, with the International Energy Agency authorizing the release of 400 million barrels of crude oil. Despite this, oil prices continued to rise on March 11, reflecting deep market anxiety about a prolonged supply crunch.
What Comes Next?
Admiral Cooper made one thing clear: the strikes aren’t stopping.
“The objective of Operation Epic Fury is to end Iran’s ability to project power and harass shipping,” Cooper reiterated. The military strikes — described as “unpredictable, dynamic and decisive” — will continue to target Iran’s defense industrial base.
With Iran’s navy effectively destroyed, its missile capability degraded by 90%, and its ports now formally designated as potential targets, the military pressure on Tehran is reaching a breaking point.
But Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei — the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed in the opening strikes — appears determined to fight on. Iran’s security establishment is reportedly rallying behind him, despite Trump’s declaration that Khamenei’s son is “unacceptable” and “cannot live in peace.”
The question is no longer whether Iran’s military can survive this onslaught. It’s whether anyone in Tehran is willing to accept that reality before the ports start burning too.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as the situation in the Middle East continues to evolve.