US Central Command Says 11,000 Iranian Targets Struck Since Operation Started

The U.S. military command leading the Iran war said on March 28 that it has struck more than 11,000 targets inside the country since the campaign was launched nearly a month ago.

In a post on X, the U.S. Central Command said that 150 Iranian naval vessels have been destroyed and more than 11,000 combat flights have been carried out so far.

Also on March 28, the Central Command announced that Marines and Navy service members on the USS Tripoli amphibious assault vessel arrived in its area of responsibility, which is primarily the Middle East, a day earlier. About 3,500 Marines and sailors were on board the craft, it said, although other details about why they were sent to the area were not provided.

Since the operation started on Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israeli militaries have primarily launched air strikes on Iranian military assets, factories, and some infrastructure. No American or Israeli soldiers have been deployed to the nation.

The conflict and the Iranian regime’s decision to effectively close down the Strait of Hormuz have threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertilizer shortages, and disrupted air travel.

The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned on March 29 that if the United States were to launch a ground assault in the country, it would face retaliation and Tehran would mete out “severe punishment” on U.S. regional allies, according to state-run media.

At the same time, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would consider Israeli universities and branches of American universities in the region “legitimate targets,” state media outlet Tasnim News Agency reported. This is the first time Iran has threatened to strike Israeli and American universities in the area.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on March 28 that dozens of universities and research centers have been hit, among them the Iran University of Science and Technology and Isfahan University of Technology.

“If the U.S. government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of [Iranian] universities by 12 o’clock Monday, March 30, in an official statement,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement, urging the evacuations of American and Israeli educational facilities and telling students and staff to stay at least one kilometer away from any such facility.

U.S. universities, including Georgetown, New York University, and Northwestern, have campuses in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on social media on March 26 that he would give the Iranian regime 10 days to negotiate with the United States or it would face the destruction of its power stations.

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he wrote in a social media post.

The United Arab Emirates said on March 29 that its air defense systems are responding to more missile and drone attacks, saying that sirens heard across the country on March 29 were from interception efforts. The Gulf nation has faced Iranian attacks involving 16 missiles and 42 drones in the past 24 hours, according to the ministry.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense also said it intercepted and destroyed 10 drones attacking the oil-rich country on the morning of March 29, and Kuwaiti officials said that four drones that were sent to attack the Persian Gulf nation were intercepted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.