Gerald Ford Is Squeezing Iran From the Sea — 500 Missiles in 4 Days

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, 1,16 feet long, nuclearpowered, carrying over 5,000 sailors and 90 aircraft, is conducting around the clock combat operations in the Eastern Mediterranean right now. FA18 Super Hornets are taking off from its deck every few hours. EA18G Growlers are jamming Iranian radar networks from 30,000 ft. E2D Hawkeyes are managing the entire airspace picture across the Levant simultaneously. And Sentcom posted four words on its official account that summarize everything happening in this war from the sea. Four words, official, verified, published by the United States military itself. US forces are squeezing Iran from the sea. At the same time, on the other side of the Persian Gulf, Iran has fired more than 500 ballistic missiles at American bases, allied cities, civilian airports, commercial ports, and luxury hotels in 4 days. Iran launched roughly 420 missiles across nine countries and ships at sea in the first 24 hours alone. Gerald Ford is squeezing from one direction. 500 missiles came back from the other. Here is the complete picture of what that squeeze looks like from both ends simultaneously. Before we get to the missiles, you need to understand exactly what Gerald Ford is because Sentcom did not choose its words accidentally when it said squeezing Iran from the sea. The Ford's presence in this war is a strategic statement as much as a military one. The Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group continues aroundthe-clock operations in support of Operation Epic Fury from the Mediterranean Sea. With another carrier strike group in the Middle East, US forces are squeezing Iran from the sea. Two carrier strike groups. Simultaneously, one in the Arabian Sea, Abraham Lincoln, one in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Gerald Ford. Iran is being compressed from both directions at once. Lincoln launches strikes from the east. The forward launches strikes from the west. Iranian radar operators, missile battery commanders, and air defense controllers have to track threats coming from two completely different directions across thousands of miles of airspace simultaneously. That is what squeezing from the sea means in operational terms. Operating from the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Gerald R. Ford is launching carrierbased strike, electronic warfare, and airborne early warning aircraft to support Operation Epic Fury. The operation integrates naval aviation, long-range precision fires, cyber capabilities, and intelligence assets to impose sustained pressure on adversary networks operating across parts of the Levant and adjacent maritime approaches, strike aircraft, electronic warfare, airborne early warning, cyber capabilities, intelligence assets. The Gerald Ford is not just a platform for dropping bombs. It is a floating command center integrating every domain of modern warfare simultaneously. kinetic strikes, electronic jamming, cyber operations, and intelligence collection. All from a single hole that moves, cannot be easily targeted, and never runs out of fuel because it is nuclearpowered. The arrival of the USS Gerald Ford and its strike group marks the largest deployment of naval assets to the region since five carrier battle groups assembled at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The largest naval deployment since Iraq in 2003. That confirmation from Wikipedia sourced to multiple defense publications puts Gerald Ford's presence in historical context. The last time America assembled this kind of naval power in the Middle East, it preceded the invasion and occupation of a country of 26 million people. Iran has 86 million, two carriers 23 years later. And the Ford was not even supposed to be here. It was reassigned from the Caribbean and arrived on the coast of Israel on February 27th, one day before the bombing started. Now, here is the operational detail. Because of the four aircraft types launching from the Ford's deck, each perform a completely different and irreplaceable function in the campaign against Iran. FA18E F Super Hornets provide precision strike capacity against fixed and mobile targets, while EA18G Growlers conduct suppression of enemy air defenses against Iranian radar and missile networks. E2D advanced Hawkeye aircraft extend airborne early warning and battle management crucial in an environment characterized by large-scale missile and drone retaliation. F-35C fighters add stealth penetration capability against heavily defended targets, increasing survivability during deep strike missions. Four aircraft, four completely different missions. The Super Hornet drops the bombs. The Growler blinds Iran's radar so the Super Hornet can get to the target without being seen. The Hawkeye manages the entire airspace, tracking every friendly aircraft, every Iranian drone, every incoming missile, and directs the defensive response. And the F35C penetrates the targets that everything else cannot reach. The deeply buried facilities, the hardened command centers, the sites that require stealth to approach without being shot down. Launching from the eastern Mediterranean provides the United States with operational depth and maneuver flexibility. The carrier's mobility complicates Iranian targeting calculations and reduces reliance on fixed regional bases that could be vulnerable to ballistic missile attack. Nuclear propulsion allows the ship to sustain operations without fuel constraints while escorting Aegis equipped destroyers contribute ballistic missile defense and long range strike capabilities, creating an integrated maritime shield and sword posture. Operational depth, maneuver flexibility complicates Iranian targeting. No fuel constraints, shield and sword simultaneously. Every phrase in that official description represents a specific Iranian vulnerability that Gerald Ford exploits. Iran knows exactly where Aluade air base is. It is a fixed point on a map with GPS coordinates that have not changed in decades. Iran can and did fire ballistic missiles directly at it. Gerald Ford moves every day. Its position changes. Iran has to find it before it can target it. And finding a nuclearpowered aircraft carrier in the open ocean is significantly harder than targeting a base on a map. Sentcom commander Admiral Brad Cooper said the Navy's two aircraft carrier strike groups, including the Gerald Ford, were squeezing the Iranians and having them back into their own ports. He characterized US military operations against Iran as a head of the game plan, back into their own ports. Admiral Cooper confirmed at a Pentagon briefing that Iran's navy, which started this war with frigots, submarines, fast attack boats, and a drone carrier ship, has been driven back into its own ports by the combined pressure of the two carrier strike groups. The Iranian Navy that threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz is now sheltering from American naval power rather than projecting it. Now, here is the other side of the squeeze. Because understanding what Iran fired back tells you everything about the scale of what both carrier groups are defending against simultaneously. Iran launched roughly 420 missiles across nine countries and ships at sea in the first 24 hours alone. Iran launched 39% of its missiles, 162 total. At Israel, 40% at the UAE, 167 total, and 11% at Qatar, 46 total. Iran also expanded targeting to maritime traffic, launching attacks against commercial vessels. 420 missiles in 24 hours, nine countries, commercial vessels. That is Iran's opening response to Gerald Ford and Abraham Lincoln squeezing from both ends simultaneously. Not a single country was targeted. Not a single military response. Nine countries, civilian airports, commercial ports, hotel towers, data centers, gas facilities, and ships at sea all hit on the first day while two American carriers were launching strikes from the east and the west. US forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions, severely degrading Iran's air defenses and destroying hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles, launchers, and drones. Cooper said, "Forces are focused on shooting all the things that can shoot at us." Shooting all the things that can shoot at us. Admiral Cooper's language at the Pentagon briefing is the clearest statement of the operational objective in this entire war. Gerald Ford is not trying to occupy Iran. It is not trying to rebuild Iran. It is specifically targeting the systems that Iran uses to shoot back. The missile launchers, the drone factories, the radar networks, the command centers. Every strike from the Ford's deck is designed to reduce the number of missiles Iran can fire tomorrow. Iran's ballistic missile attacks decreased by 90% since day one, and drone attacks decreased by 83% since day one, Cooper confirmed. President Trump gave Sentcom the task of leveling Iran's ballistic missile industrial base. The US military is in the process of dismantling Iran's missile production capability for the future. We are not just hitting what they have, Cooper said. 90% reduction in ballistic missile attacks, 83% reduction in drone attacks by day five. That is the confirmed operational impact of what the Gerald Ford and its sister carrier strike group have achieved in less than a week. Not just intercepting incoming fire, but destroying the sources of that fire faster than Iran can reconstitute them. Now, here is the confirmed military development that most coverage is still burying under the headline numbers. Two confirmed naval firsts that have not happened in decades. In just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier. And as we speak, it is on fire, Cooper said at the Pentagon briefing alongside Defense Secretary Hegsith. An Iranian drone carrier the size of a World War II aircraft carrier on fire. Iran had converted a large vessel into a mobile drone launch platform capable of moving into position and releasing waves of Shahed kamicazi drones at targets across the Gulf. Gerald Ford's operations eliminated it. A burning hull, the size of a Second World War carrier, confirms that Iran had been quietly building a drone carrier capability that most Western defense analysts did not publicly know existed until Sentcom announced they had destroyed it. US forces have wiped out more than 20 Iranian Navy ships. Those vessels include the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean by a US fast attack submarine using a single MK48 torpedo. The first such action since World War II. Defense Secretary Pete Hegsith and General Dan Kaine confirmed it during a Pentagon briefing. The first torpedo kill since World War II. Confirmed at a Pentagon press briefing by the Defense Secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs simultaneously. A US fast attack submarine operating silently undetected in the Indian Ocean fired a single MK48 torpedo at the Iranian frigot Iris Dana and sank it. The last time a US Navy submarine sank an enemy vessel with a torpedo was 1945. 81 years later in waters that Iran thought it controlled, an American submarine ended that streak. The IDF confirmed that an Israeli Air Force F-35I Adir shot down an Iranian Air Force Yak 130 advanced trainer and light attack aircraft. An event that marked the first recorded air-to-air kill in the history of the F-35 globally. The first F-35 air-to-air kill in history. Confirmed by the IDF. An Israeli F-35i shot down an Iranian Yak 130 over Iranian airspace. The first time the world's most advanced stealth fighter has ever destroyed an enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat. Three confirmed military firsts in five days. First torpedo kill since Wixs. First F-35 air-to-air kill in history. First drone carrier destroyed in modern naval warfare. All confirmed. All in the same week. Now, here is the geopolitical dimension that the strike numbers and naval firsts do not capture. Because Gerald Ford's position in the Eastern Mediterranean is not just about Iran. It is about every calculation every government in the world is making right now. The Gerald Ford's carrier air wings have enough range to reach Iran with the 14 US Air Force refueling tankers deployed at Israel's Bengurian airport, enabling the Ford's aircraft the range to be able to reach Iranian targets. 14 refueling tankers at an Israeli airport, extending the range of every aircraft that takes off from the Ford's deck all the way to Iranian territory. The Gerald Ford is positioned in the Mediterranean, technically outside the Persian Gulf, technically outside Iranian short-range missile range. And yet its aircraft can reach Tehran, Isvahan, KM, and every other Iranian city targeted in Operation Epic Fury. That positioning is the operational genius that Admiral Cooper described. The Ford cannot be easily targeted from Iran, but its aircraft can target Iran from it. Strategically, Operation Epic Fury signals a shift from limited retaliatory strikes to a broader campaign aimed at dismantling key elements of Iran's military strike architecture. By targeting command nodes, air defense systems, and launch infrastructure, the United States appears focused on degrading Tran's ability to coordinate large-scale missile and drone attacks. The successful defense against hundreds of retaliatory projectiles underscores the scale of the confrontation and highlights the importance of layered air and missile defense integration across naval and land-based systems. Dismantling the architecture, not just hitting individual targets. That language from Army Recognition's defense analysis confirms that the Gerald Ford's operations are not designed to achieve a single objective and stop. They are designed to systematically dismantle the entire Iranian military capability to conduct large-scale missile and drone warfare. Every strike from the Ford's deck is one component of a campaign to leave Iran unable to threaten any of its neighbors with the missile arsenal it spent a decade building. So, here is where this stands. On March 6th, 2026, US forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions. Iran's ballistic missile attacks have decreased 90% from day one. Drone attacks decreased 83%. More than 20 Iranian Navy ships have been sunk or destroyed. Iran's drone carrier is on fire. The Iranian Navy has been driven back into its own ports. Gerald Ford is squeezing from the Mediterranean. Abraham Lincoln is squeezing from the Arabian Sea. Iran fired 500 missiles in 4 days. That number is now declining by 90%. The Iranian Navy that threatened Hormuz is sheltering in port. The drone carrier Iran secretly built is on fire, and the first torpedo kill since 1945 confirmed that American submarines are hunting Iranian warships in the open ocean. Hegs said at the Pentagon, "The amount of firepower over Iran and over Thran is about to surge dramatically. When we say more to come, it is more fighter squadrons, more capabilities, more defensive capabilities, and more bomber pulses more frequently." More to come. More fighter squadrons, more capabilities, more bomber pulses more frequently. The defense secretary is confirming publicly that what has happened in 5 days is not the peak of this campaign. It is the opening. The Gerald Ford has been conducting around the clock operations for 5 days straight. Nuclear propulsion means it never needs to refuel. Its aircraft are already ranging over Tan and Hexath is saying the firepower is about to surge dramatically. Iran fired 500 missiles in 4 days. That number dropped 90% by day five. The squeeze is working. Whether it works completely, whether Iran's missile production capability is dismantled before Iran's remaining missiles find a ship, a base, or a city that matters is the question that the next several weeks of this war will answer. The Gerald Ford is in the Mediterranean. Its aircraft are over Thran, and Senkcom said it in four words. squeezing Iran from the sea.

The USS Gerald R. Ford — the world's largest aircraft carrier — is conducting around-the-clock combat operations right now. CENTCOM confirmed it in 4 words on their official account: "US forces are squeezing Iran from the sea." Iran fired 500 missiles in 4 days in response. That number dropped 90% by day five. Iran's drone carrier is on fire. 20 Iranian navy ships sunk or destroyed. First torpedo kill since World War II confirmed. First F-35 air-to-air kill in history confirmed. And Hegseth said at the Pentagon: "The firepower over Tehran is about to surge dramatically." In this video I break down: ✅ Why the Gerald Ford is in the Mediterranean not the Gulf ✅ What 4 aircraft types on its deck do simultaneously ✅ CENTCOM: Iran's navy driven back into its own ports ✅ 500 missiles in 4 days — the confirmed breakdown by country ✅ 90% reduction in Iranian ballistic missile attacks by day 5 ✅ Iran's secret drone carrier destroyed — confirmed by CENTCOM ✅ First torpedo kill since WWII — MK48, Indian Ocean, IRIS Dena ✅ First F-35 air-to-air kill in history — IDF confirmed ✅ Hegseth: "Firepower about to surge dramatically" Every fact confirmed. Every quote from primary sources. CENTCOM official posts linked directly below. 📡 CONFIRMED SOURCES: - CENTCOM Official X — Squeezing Iran from the sea (March 5): https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1897XXX - Kurdistan24 — CENTCOM Gerald Ford continuous operations: https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/898100/ - Stars and Stripes — 20 ships sunk torpedo kill confirmed (March 4): https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2026-03-04/iran-navy-cooper-ships-ballistic-missiles-20947477.html - Military Times — Drone carrier on fire Cooper briefing (March 5): https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2026/03/05/us-has-destroyed-iranian-drone-carrier-centcom-commander-says/ - Army Recognition — Gerald Ford operational analysis (March 2): https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/2026/u-s-aircraft-carrier-uss-gerald-r-ford-entered-into-active-combat-operations-against-iran - Zona Militar — Gerald Ford operations F-35 kill confirmed (March 5): https://www.zona-militar.com/en/2026/03/05/the-nuclear-powered-aircraft-carrier-uss-gerald-r-ford/ - WION News — CENTCOM dramatic Ford visuals confirmed (March 5): https://www.wionews.com/photos/centcom-shares-dramatic-uss-gerald-r-ford-strike-visuals-amid-iran-war-pics-1772685791762 - JNS — CENTCOM Ford in the fight confirmed (March 2): https://www.jns.org/centcom-lambasts-iran-for-indiscriminate-targeting-of-civilians/ - Wikipedia — 2026 Iran war full timeline (Updated hourly): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran%E2%80%93United_States_crisis - JINSA — Operations Epic Fury Roaring Lion Day 1 report: https://jinsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Operations-Epic-Fury-and-Roaring-Lion-03-01-26.pdf ⚠️ DISCLAIMER: This channel provides news analysis for educational and informational purposes only. All claims are sourced to named primary publications with direct links. Nothing in this video constitutes an endorsement of any military action or political position by any party. #GeraldFord #USSGeraldFord #CENTCOM