US and Israel intensify air campaign in Iran as conflict enters fourth day

Tuesday 03 - 13:05

By: Dakir Madiha

US and Israel intensify air campaign in Iran as conflict enters fourth day

The joint US and Israeli offensive on Iran has entered its fourth day, with more than 1,250 targets struck across the country since the first wave of attacks on 28 February 2026. The operation, known in Washington as Epic Fury and paired with Israel’s own campaign, has focused on Iranian leadership, ballistic missile infrastructure, air defences, and naval assets, marking one of the most extensive coordinated air operations in recent Middle East history.

Strikes began at 1:15 a.m. Eastern Time on 28 February, when over 100 American and Israeli aircraft took off from land bases and warships positioned around the region. The Israeli Air Force deployed about 200 fighter jets in what it described as the largest combat sortie it has ever conducted, dropping more than 1,200 munitions on over 500 targets including surface‑to‑air missile systems and launchers in western and central Iran. The US Air Force contributed B‑2 stealth bombers flying roughly 37‑hour round‑trip missions from the continental United States to hit hardened ballistic missile facilities deep inside Iranian territory.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, was killed at his residence in Tehran during the opening phase of the Israeli strikes, after US intelligence reportedly supplied precise location data for senior leadership compounds. Iranian state media confirmed his death on 1 March and announced forty days of national mourning, while reports also indicated that several members of his family were among those killed. The decapitation strike also killed senior military figures, including the armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi and top Revolutionary Guard commanders, further weakening Iran’s central command structure.

US Central Command has said that all eleven Iranian naval vessels identified in the Gulf of Oman were destroyed within the first forty‑eight hours of the operation, arguing that this would end long‑standing harassment of commercial shipping in those waters. The Pentagon has framed the campaign as designed to cripple Iran’s ballistic missile capability, neutralize its navy, block any path to nuclear weapons, and cut the flow of arms to allied groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. President Donald Trump has warned that the air and missile campaign could last four to five weeks or longer, even as he claims the effort is running ahead of schedule after the rapid elimination of much of Iran’s senior leadership.

Iran has responded with what it calls Operation True Promise IV, firing waves of missiles and drones at US bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as at Israeli targets, in a series of escalating salvos. US Patriot and THAAD systems have intercepted many of the incoming projectiles, but Iranian officials say they have conducted more than ten waves of retaliation, using hundreds of drones and missiles against what they describe as American and Israeli command, intelligence, and logistics sites across the region. Hezbollah has also launched rockets and other munitions from Lebanon into northern Israel, prompting the Israeli military to describe the barrage as an official declaration of war by the group and to threaten broader operations along the northern front.

Trump has acknowledged that US forces have already suffered casualties, confirming that four American service members were killed and several others wounded in Iranian retaliatory strikes on regional bases. He nevertheless insists that attacks will continue until Washington’s objectives are met, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the aim is to remove what he calls an existential threat posed by Iran’s leadership and to create conditions for Iranians to reshape their political future. As bombardments continue and Iran’s leadership structure reels from the initial blows, regional governments are bracing for further escalation, with analysts warning that the campaign is shifting from a decapitation strike to a broader push that increasingly resembles a bid for regime change.