At approximately 1:15 AM Eastern Time on Saturday, February 28, 2026, Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from U.S. Navy destroyers and submarines in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea marked the opening salvo of Operation Epic Fury, the American military’s coordinated campaign against Iran. Within minutes of launch, hundreds of BGM-109 Tomahawks were in flight toward Iranian military targets, with the first impacts hitting southern Iranian positions near the Strait of Hormuz roughly 45 to 60 minutes later. Deeper targets inside Iran, including facilities near Tehran, faced flight times of 60 to 140 minutes, meaning the full weight of the initial strike wave landed over the course of roughly two hours. The operation, conducted jointly with Israel under its parallel codename “Roaring Lion,” represented the largest American combat operation in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Within 12 hours, hundreds of strikes had been carried out.
Within two days, U.S. Central Command reported hitting over 1,000 targets across Iran. The campaign killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, in strikes targeting his office in Tehran, according to Iranian state media. It also cost the lives of three U.S. service members, with five more seriously wounded — the first American combat fatalities of the operation. This article examines the weapons systems used, the scale of operations, the Iranian response, and what the campaign reveals about modern American military capability and its costs.
Table of Contents
- Why Did Tomahawk Cruise Missiles Lead the Iran Campaign at 1 AM Eastern?
- The Full Weapons Mix and Why Tomahawks Were Not Enough Alone
- The Scale of Destruction Across Iran’s 31 Provinces
- Iranian Retaliation and the Cost-Benefit Calculus of Preemptive Strikes
- The Stealth Tomahawk and What It Signals About Future Warfare
- The Role of the USS Abraham Lincoln and Carrier-Based Aviation
- What Comes After the Tomahawks
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Did Tomahawk Cruise Missiles Lead the Iran Campaign at 1 AM Eastern?
The decision to open with Tomahawks at 1 AM Eastern — 9:45 AM in Tehran — follows a well-established American doctrine for initiating hostilities against adversaries with integrated air defense systems. Cruise missiles do not put pilots at risk during the critical first hours of a campaign, when enemy radar and surface-to-air missile batteries are still operational. In the 1991 Gulf War, the 2003 Iraq invasion, and the 2017 and 2018 Syria strikes, Tomahawks served the same door-kicking role: degrading air defenses so that manned aircraft can operate more safely in subsequent waves. The BGM-109 Tomahawks were launched from Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and submarines positioned across the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. While Tomahawks opened the campaign, they were far from the only weapons employed. The strike package included precision-guided munitions delivered by carrier-based aircraft — specifically F-35C Lightning II jets flown by Marines and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets flown by Navy aviators, both launching from the uss Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) stationed in the North Arabian Sea. This combination of standoff cruise missiles and manned aircraft strikes reflects a layered approach: Tomahawks hit air defenses and high-value fixed targets first, then manned aircraft moved in to strike mobile and time-sensitive targets that cruise missiles cannot effectively engage. Perhaps most significant from a military technology standpoint, Operation Epic Fury marked the first combat use of low-cost one-way attack drones by the U.S. military. These expendable unmanned systems, sometimes called “suicide drones” or loitering munitions, fill a gap between expensive cruise missiles and manned aircraft sorties. They can loiter over an area waiting for targets of opportunity, and their low cost means commanders can employ them in large numbers without the budgetary pain of expending Tomahawks, which cost roughly $2 million per missile. However, if the campaign had relied solely on standoff weapons like Tomahawks and drones, certain categories of targets would have been difficult or impossible to hit. Mobile missile launchers, for instance, can relocate between the time a cruise missile is programmed and the time it arrives. This is why the manned aircraft component remained essential despite the risks — and ultimately why three American service members lost their lives and five were seriously wounded during operations. The numbers from the first 48 hours of Operation Epic Fury are staggering by any modern military standard. CENTCOM reported striking over 1,000 targets across Iran in two days. Israel, operating under its “Roaring Lion” codename, dropped more than 1,200 munitions across 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces. The target list included IRGC command-and-control facilities, air defense systems including surface-to-air missile batteries, radar installations, ballistic missile launchers, and military airfields. To put this in perspective, the April 2018 U.S.-led strikes on Syria involved roughly 105 missiles hitting three targets. The January 2020 strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was a single drone strike on a single vehicle. Operation Epic Fury was orders of magnitude larger — closer in scale to the opening nights of the 1991 Gulf War or the 2003 “Shock and Awe” campaign against Iraq. The geographic breadth of hitting targets in 24 of 31 provinces means virtually no corner of Iran’s military infrastructure was beyond reach. The preliminary death toll stood at 201 in Iran and at least 9 in Israel from Iranian retaliatory strikes. The killing of Supreme Leader Khamenei represented the highest-ranking foreign leader killed by American military action since the operation against Osama bin Laden in 2011, though the circumstances were vastly different — Khamenei was a head of state, not a non-state actor. The long-term political consequences of this decapitation strike remain deeply uncertain. Tehran did not absorb the strikes passively. Iran retaliated with waves of missiles and drones aimed at Israel and U.S. military bases across the Middle East. This response, while expected by Pentagon planners, underscores a fundamental tradeoff in preemptive military campaigns: striking first degrades the enemy’s capability but does not eliminate it entirely, and the retaliation that follows can exact real costs on the attacking force and its allies. The three U.S. service members killed and five seriously wounded represent the human cost on the American side. Israeli casualties included at least 9 dead from Iranian retaliatory strikes. These numbers, while far lower than Iranian losses, demonstrate that even overwhelming military superiority does not provide immunity from consequences. Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, while degraded by the initial strikes, retained enough capacity to threaten both Israeli population centers and American military installations throughout the region. The comparison to previous American campaigns is instructive. The 2003 Iraq invasion, which also opened with Tomahawk salvos, led to a swift conventional military victory but a protracted and costly occupation. The 2011 Libya intervention achieved its immediate military objectives but left behind a failed state. Whether Operation Epic Fury follows either pattern or charts a different course depends entirely on what comes after the missiles stop flying — a question that military force alone cannot answer. The appearance of the black-painted, forward-swept-wing Tomahawk variant during Operation Epic Fury deserves particular scrutiny. Defense observers had long speculated about a low-observable Tomahawk program, but the Maritime Strike Tomahawk’s existence was never officially confirmed before its combat debut over Iran. Its stealth features — likely including radar-absorbing materials and a redesigned airframe to reduce radar cross-section — suggest the Pentagon anticipated needing to penetrate increasingly sophisticated air defense networks. This matters because the proliferation of advanced Russian and Chinese air defense systems, particularly the S-300 and S-400 families that Iran had acquired, has called into question whether legacy cruise missiles can survive in contested airspace. A standard Tomahawk, flying at subsonic speeds and lacking stealth features, is vulnerable to modern integrated air defense systems. The stealth variant addresses this vulnerability, but it raises questions about cost. If the new variant is significantly more expensive than the roughly $2 million standard Tomahawk, the economics of cruise missile warfare shift considerably. There is also a warning embedded in this development for military planners worldwide. The existence of a stealth cruise missile means that traditional early-warning systems may no longer provide reliable advance notice of incoming strikes. Nations relying on radar-based air defense as their primary deterrent against cruise missile attack now face a capability gap they may not have known existed until February 28, 2026. The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), positioned in the North Arabian Sea, served as the primary platform for manned aircraft sorties during Operation Epic Fury. Its air wing launched F-35C Lightning II stealth fighters — flown by Marine Corps aviators — alongside Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The F-35C’s combat debut in a major air campaign represents a milestone for the troubled and expensive Joint Strike Fighter program, which has faced years of cost overruns and performance concerns. The carrier’s positioning in the North Arabian Sea, rather than the Persian Gulf itself, reflects the Navy’s awareness that large surface vessels operating in confined waters like the Gulf are vulnerable to Iranian anti-ship missiles and fast-attack boats. By standing off at greater distance, the Lincoln reduced its own vulnerability while still projecting power through its air wing — though this required aircraft to fly longer distances to reach their targets, increasing fuel consumption and reducing time on station over Iranian territory. The opening hours of Operation Epic Fury demonstrated that the United States retains the ability to project devastating military force on short notice across vast distances. The combination of Tomahawk cruise missiles, stealth variants, carrier-based aviation, and combat drones represents the most diverse American strike package ever assembled for a single campaign. The killing of Khamenei and the destruction of over 1,000 military targets in 48 hours achieved the operation’s apparent immediate objectives. But military campaigns are defined not by their opening acts but by their consequences. The loss of three American lives, Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes, and the fundamental instability created by killing a nation’s supreme leader all point toward a period of profound uncertainty in the Middle East. Whether Operation Epic Fury becomes a contained military action or the first chapter of a wider conflict depends on decisions that have not yet been made — by Washington, by Tehran’s surviving leadership, and by every regional actor calculating their next move in the aftermath of what the Tomahawks started at 1:15 AM Eastern Time. Operation Epic Fury opened with Tomahawk cruise missiles for the same reason every major American military campaign of the past 35 years has: they allow the United States to strike from safe standoff distances, degrade enemy air defenses, and set conditions for follow-on operations. The February 28, 2026 strikes against Iran were distinguished by their scale — over 1,000 targets in 48 hours — their technological firsts, including the stealth Tomahawk and combat drones, and their strategic consequences, most notably the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei. The facts of the operation are now a matter of record. The U.S. and Israel launched a coordinated campaign that hit 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces, employed a weapons mix ranging from $2 million cruise missiles to low-cost expendable drones, and cost three American service members their lives. What remains unwritten is everything that follows. For those tracking this situation — whether from a policy, legal, or personal safety perspective — the verified sourcing from CENTCOM, USNI News, and credible defense outlets listed above provides a starting point for cutting through the inevitable fog of claim and counterclaim that follows any military operation of this magnitude. The BGM-109 Tomahawk is a long-range, subsonic cruise missile used by the U.S. Navy since the 1980s. It can be launched from destroyers and submarines and carries a conventional warhead to strike land targets at ranges exceeding 1,000 miles. Each missile costs roughly $2 million. Observers documented a black-painted Tomahawk variant with forward-swept wings, believed to be the Maritime Strike Tomahawk with low-observable stealth features. It had never been seen in combat or publicly acknowledged before the Iran strikes, suggesting a classified development program. Three U.S. service members were killed and five were seriously wounded, marking the first American combat fatalities of Operation Epic Fury. These casualties occurred during the broader air campaign, not specifically from the initial Tomahawk launches, which are unmanned. Yes. Tehran retaliated with waves of missiles and drones aimed at Israel and U.S. military bases across the Middle East. At least 9 people were killed in Israel from the retaliatory strikes. F-35C Lightning II stealth fighters flown by Marines and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets flown by Navy pilots launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in the North Arabian Sea. The operation also marked the first combat use of low-cost one-way attack drones by U.S. forces. Operation Epic Fury began at approximately 1:15 AM Eastern Time on Saturday, February 28, 2026, which corresponds to roughly 9:45 AM local time in Tehran.
The Full Weapons Mix and Why Tomahawks Were Not Enough Alone
The Scale of Destruction Across Iran’s 31 Provinces
Iranian Retaliation and the Cost-Benefit Calculus of Preemptive Strikes
The Stealth Tomahawk and What It Signals About Future Warfare
The Role of the USS Abraham Lincoln and Carrier-Based Aviation
What Comes After the Tomahawks
Conclusion
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Tomahawk cruise missile?
What was the new stealth Tomahawk seen during Operation Epic Fury?
How many U.S. casualties occurred during the opening of the Iran campaign?
Did Iran strike back after the Tomahawk attacks?
What aircraft were used alongside Tomahawk missiles?
What time did the strikes begin?
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