type: timeline_event
As Operation Epic Fury entered its second week, U.S. Central Command expanded the target set beyond Iran's navy and ballistic missile infrastructure to include Iran's space program and dual-use aerospace capabilities. DefenseScoop reported on March 5 that CENTCOM had targeted Iranian satellite launch facilities, rocket research sites, and associated infrastructure, reflecting a campaign strategy aimed at comprehensively degrading any Iranian capability that could eventually support long-range strike or weapons delivery systems.
By March 5-6, the cumulative scale of the campaign had grown to more than 3,000 U.S. and Israeli strikes inside Iran, with 43 Iranian ships damaged or destroyed. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that entrance buildings at Iran's underground Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant had been damaged in earlier strikes, though the agency reported no additional impacts on the main underground facility and no radiological effects. A separate facility identified by Israeli officials as an underground nuclear weapons site called Min Zadai had reportedly been destroyed in strikes on March 3.
The CENTCOM commander separately announced that the U.S. had destroyed an Iranian "drone carrier" vessel — a ship configured to launch and recover unmanned aerial vehicles in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea — representing a significant blow to Iran's ability to project drone power beyond its borders at range.
Hegseth stated that the U.S. and Israel would achieve "complete, uncontested control" of Iranian airspace "under a week." Independent military analysts cautioned that while Iranian conventional military capabilities had been severely degraded, the IRGC retained dispersed assets and the conflict showed no clear trajectory toward a defined end state. The Intercept reported that sources briefed on the war were uncertain that any post-conflict governance framework for Iran had been developed by the administration.