General Brad Cooper, Commander of US Central Command
On July 26, two sources revealed that General Brad Cooper, head of the US Central Command, advised stopping the bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz, saying the operation has pretty much maxed out its impact. According to the sources, the advice from Cooper and other advisors played a role in President Trump’s decision on the 24th to hit pause on strikes against Iran. Both military and civilian advisors to Trump acknowledged that there’s only so much you can achieve through military action, especially with air power.
The sources said Trump’s decision to call a ceasefire for the first time in two weeks came after meetings with top advisors and military officials. In the days leading up to those meetings, Trump was leaning towards getting back into major combat operations. But his mindset started shifting on the evening of the 23rd, and by the 24th, the decision to stop bombing the strait was locked in.
According to the sources, Cooper presented his recommendation to the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the White House earlier this week. He stressed that the two-week air campaign in the Strait of Hormuz area had already seriously weakened Iran’s ability to attack ships. Cooper pointed out that the designated bombing targets were mostly taken out. Continuing the same bombing pattern from the previous two weeks just didn’t make any sense, unless they were ready to resume full-scale combat operations.
Cooper emphasized that the next logical step would be to ramp back up into large-scale combat operations, in order to finish off the remaining 20% of targets that were not hit during Operation Epic Fury.