In the early morning hours of February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury, a massive coordinated air campaign that struck Iran’s air force bases, missile installations, air defense networks, and nuclear-related facilities across the country. Approximately 200 Israeli Air Force aircraft dropped more than 550 munitions on over 500 Iranian targets in the first wave alone, while U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flew round-trip missions from Whiteman AFB in Missouri to deliver 2,000-pound guided bombs against hardened underground facilities. Among the specific military airfields and bases hit were Mehrabad in Tehran, the Tabriz North Missile Base, Isfahan’s Nuclear Technology and Research Center and Parchin military complex, the Konarak drone base, and the Zahedan airbase, where satellite imagery later showed radar systems reduced to rubble.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the operation as “the most lethal, most complex, and most-precision aerial operation in history.” The U.S. military struck over 1,000 targets on the first day, killing more than 40 senior Iranian commanders and, according to subsequent reports, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself. The strikes also came at a steep cost: three U.S. service members were killed and five seriously wounded, marking the first American casualties of the campaign. This article breaks down the specific bases and airfields targeted, the weapons systems used, the strategic objectives driving the operation, Iran’s retaliatory response, and the broader implications of what may become the largest American air campaign since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Table of Contents
- Which Iranian Air Force Bases Were Struck in the First Wave of Operation Epic Fury?
- What Weapons Systems Did the U.S. and Israel Use Against Iranian Targets?
- The Decapitation of Iranian Military Leadership
- Iran’s Retaliatory Response and Regional Escalation
- Stated U.S. Objectives and the Question of Mission Scope
- The Cost to American Forces
- What Comes Next After the First Wave
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Which Iranian Air Force Bases Were Struck in the First Wave of Operation Epic Fury?
The opening salvo of Operation Epic Fury targeted a geographically dispersed set of Iranian military installations. Mehrabad, located in Tehran and serving dual military and civilian functions, was among the first locations hit. The Tabriz North Missile Base in northwestern Iran sustained particularly devastating damage — satellite imagery from Planet Labs published in the days following the strikes showed collapsed tunnels, indicating that bunker-busting munitions had successfully penetrated hardened underground infrastructure designed to survive conventional bombardment. In central Iran, strikes hit Isfahan’s Nuclear Technology and Research Center alongside the Parchin military complex, a facility long suspected of hosting weapons-related research. Further south and east, the Konarak drone base saw its drone storage and cruise missile storage bunkers destroyed through precision strikes confirmed on aircraft shelters.
The Zahedan airbase near the Pakistani border was also hit, with before-and-after satellite imagery showing a radar system completely reduced to rubble. Additional targets were struck across Qom, Kermanshah, Karaj, and Bandar Abbas, the latter being home to a significant Iranian naval presence along the Strait of Hormuz. The breadth of the target list suggests the coalition aimed to neutralize Iran’s ability to launch retaliatory air operations from virtually any corner of the country. For context, this scope dwarfs prior strikes against Iranian assets. The April 2024 Israeli strike on Isfahan, for instance, was a limited, single-site operation designed as a calibrated response. Operation Epic Fury, by contrast, represented a systematic campaign to degrade Iran’s entire military aviation and air defense architecture in a single opening blow.
What Weapons Systems Did the U.S. and Israel Use Against Iranian Targets?
The coalition employed a layered combination of stealth aircraft, cruise missiles, and conventional strike fighters to overwhelm Iran’s air defenses. The use of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flying from Whiteman AFB in Missouri was particularly notable. These aircraft, designed to penetrate the most advanced integrated air defense systems in the world, carried 2,000-pound guided bombs — likely GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators or GBU-31 JDAMs — capable of destroying deeply buried and hardened targets. The round-trip missions from the continental United States underscored both the global reach of american airpower and the priority placed on striking facilities that conventional aircraft could not safely approach. Tomahawk cruise missiles were also used extensively, likely launched from U.S.
Navy surface ships and submarines positioned in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and potentially the Arabian Sea. These standoff weapons allowed strikes against defended targets without putting pilots at risk during the initial suppression of enemy air defenses. The approximately 200 Israeli Air Force aircraft — likely including F-35I Adir stealth fighters and F-15I Ra’am strike aircraft — delivered the bulk of the munitions in the first wave, with over 550 weapons dropped on more than 500 targets. However, the sheer volume of strikes does not automatically guarantee that every target was destroyed. Hardened underground facilities, particularly those buried deep beneath mountain rock, have historically proven difficult to neutralize even with the heaviest conventional munitions. The collapsed tunnels visible at Tabriz North suggest success at that location, but the full battle damage assessment across all sites will take weeks of satellite imagery analysis and intelligence review to complete.
The Decapitation of Iranian Military Leadership
One of the most consequential outcomes of the first wave was the reported killing of more than 40 senior Iranian commanders in the opening strikes, confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces. These were not accidental casualties — the targeting of IRGC command and control centers indicates a deliberate decapitation strategy designed to paralyze Iran’s ability to coordinate a military response in the critical hours following the initial bombardment. Most significantly, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was reported killed in the strikes.
The loss of Khamenei, who had led the Islamic Republic since 1989 and served as the ultimate authority over Iran’s military, nuclear, and foreign policy decisions, represents a seismic event in Middle Eastern geopolitics regardless of one’s view of the operation’s legality or wisdom. The elimination of the supreme leader alongside dozens of senior IRGC officers would leave Iran’s military command structure severely disrupted at the precise moment when coordinated decision-making is most critical. The coalition strikes also extended to naval assets: an Iranian Jamaran-class corvette was sunk at a Chabahar pier in the Gulf of Oman. The Jamaran class represents some of Iran’s most capable domestically produced warships, and the destruction of one at port — before it could put to sea — aligns with President Trump’s stated objective of annihilating Iran’s navy.
Iran’s Retaliatory Response and Regional Escalation
Iran did not absorb the strikes without responding. Tehran launched retaliatory drone and ballistic missile strikes against targets in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — a remarkable geographic spread that reflected Iran’s willingness to target not only its direct adversaries but also the Gulf states that provided basing, overflight rights, or logistical support for coalition operations. Iranian airstrikes killed at least eight Israelis near Jerusalem on Sunday, demonstrating that Iran retained some capacity to project force even after the massive first-wave degradation of its military infrastructure. The breadth of Iran’s retaliation created an immediate dilemma for regional governments. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the other Gulf states had invested heavily in air defense systems, including American-made Patriot batteries, precisely for this scenario.
But the fact that Iran struck across seven countries simultaneously tested the limits of these defenses and forced each nation to weigh the costs of its association with the U.S.-led operation. For countries like Iraq and Kuwait, which host significant U.S. military installations, the strikes raised urgent questions about the degree to which American basing agreements expose them to retaliation. The tradeoff is stark: hosting U.S. forces provides a security umbrella, but it also makes these nations targets in any U.S.-Iran confrontation. This tension has existed for decades, but Operation Epic Fury transformed it from a theoretical risk into an active combat reality.
Stated U.S. Objectives and the Question of Mission Scope
President Trump outlined four objectives for Operation Epic Fury: prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, destroy its missile arsenal and production sites, degrade its proxy networks, and annihilate its navy. He stated the operation could last “four weeks or less.” Each of these objectives carries significant operational and political complications that bear scrutiny. Preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon through military strikes is a goal that defense analysts have debated for decades. The strikes on Isfahan’s Nuclear Technology and Research Center and the Parchin complex targeted known facilities, but Iran’s nuclear program has historically been dispersed and partially concealed. Whether the strikes destroyed enough centrifuges, enriched uranium stockpiles, and weaponization research to meaningfully set back Iran’s nuclear timeline depends on intelligence that is not yet publicly available.
The Bushehr nuclear reactor was also struck, though it remained unclear whether the reactor itself sustained damage — a critical distinction given the potential radiological consequences of striking an active nuclear facility. The goal of degrading proxy networks introduces an entirely different operational challenge. Hezbollah, the Houthi movement, Iraqi Shia militias, and other Iranian-backed groups operate across multiple countries with their own supply chains, leadership structures, and motivations. Air strikes against Iranian territory can disrupt the command and supply relationships, but these organizations have demonstrated the ability to operate with significant autonomy. The four-week timeline Trump cited will face pressure from all of these complicating factors.
The Cost to American Forces
The operation’s first American casualties — three service members killed and five seriously wounded, reported on March 1 — immediately grounded the political reality of the campaign. President Trump warned that more casualties were “likely,” an acknowledgment that even the most technologically sophisticated military operation carries irreducible human risk.
The casualties reportedly occurred during the complex multi-domain operations required to suppress Iran’s air defenses and strike its dispersed military infrastructure. These losses, while small in comparison to past major operations, will be closely watched by an American public that has grown wary of Middle Eastern military engagements after two decades of post-9/11 wars. Each additional casualty will intensify the domestic debate over whether the operation’s objectives justify the cost, particularly given the ambitious four-week timeline and the sprawling list of strategic goals.
What Comes Next After the First Wave
The first wave of Operation Epic Fury achieved significant tactical results: widespread destruction of Iranian air bases, air defenses, missile sites, command infrastructure, and naval assets, coupled with the elimination of senior military leadership including the supreme leader himself. But the history of air campaigns teaches a consistent lesson — first strikes, no matter how devastating, rarely end conflicts on their own.
The coalition will now face the grinding work of battle damage assessment, restrike planning, and managing the regional escalation that Iran’s retaliation has already set in motion. The coming days and weeks will reveal whether the operation can achieve its stated objectives within Trump’s four-week window, or whether the campaign expands in duration, scope, and cost beyond initial projections. The regional diplomatic fallout — particularly among Gulf states now absorbing Iranian missile strikes — will shape the political sustainability of the operation as much as any battlefield result.
Conclusion
Operation Epic Fury’s first wave represented an unprecedented combined U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iranian military infrastructure. The strikes hit air force bases at Mehrabad, Tabriz, Isfahan, Konarak, and Zahedan, along with nuclear facilities, missile sites, command centers, and naval assets across the country. Over 1,000 targets were struck on the first day using B-2 stealth bombers, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and approximately 200 Israeli aircraft.
More than 40 senior Iranian commanders and Supreme Leader Khamenei were killed, fundamentally disrupting Iran’s military command structure. The operation now enters its next phase with significant uncertainties. Iran has demonstrated a willingness to retaliate across the entire region, three American service members have been killed, and the ambitious list of strategic objectives — from nuclear prevention to proxy network degradation to naval annihilation — sets a high bar for what constitutes success. The facts on the ground will continue to develop rapidly, and the gap between the operation’s stated goals and its actual outcomes will define its legacy.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Operation Epic Fury begin?
Operation Epic Fury launched at approximately 1:15 a.m. ET on February 28, 2026, which was around 7:00 a.m. local time in Iran. It was a coordinated U.S.-Israeli operation, with Israel using the codename Operation Roaring Lion.
How many targets were struck in the first day?
The U.S. military struck over 1,000 targets on the first day. In the first wave specifically, approximately 200 Israeli Air Force aircraft dropped more than 550 munitions on over 500 Iranian targets.
Was the Khamenei killing confirmed?
The killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was reported as part of the opening strikes. The IDF confirmed the deaths of over 40 senior Iranian commanders in the first wave.
Were any Americans killed in the operation?
Yes. Three U.S. service members were killed and five were seriously wounded, with the casualties reported on March 1, 2026. President Trump warned that additional casualties were “likely.”
Which countries did Iran retaliate against?
Iran launched retaliatory drone and ballistic missile strikes against Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Iranian airstrikes killed at least eight Israelis near Jerusalem.
How long is the operation expected to last?
President Trump stated the operation could last “four weeks or less,” though the scope of the stated objectives — preventing nuclear weapons capability, destroying missile production, degrading proxy networks, and annihilating Iran’s navy — suggests the timeline may face pressure.