Pentagon Ordered Troops to Stop Calling Iran Conflict 'Operation Epic Fury'
The Pentagon quietly ordered military personnel last month to stop referring to ongoing U.S. operations against Iran as “Operation Epic Fury,” according to an Air Force email obtained by CBS News. The directive came three months after the Trump administration declared the operation officially over, raising questions about how the military is categorizing service members killed and wounded in the ongoing conflict.
In response to inquiries, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday that Operation Epic Fury formally ended May 5. That same day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the White House: “The operation is over. Epic Fury is, the president notified Congress, we're done with that stage of it. We're now on to this Project Freedom.” Four days earlier, President Donald Trump had notified Congress that “hostilities” had “terminated.”
Despite the official end date, the U.S. and Iran have continued exchanging on-and-off fire, including this week, with lengthy pauses in fighting following a ceasefire that began in early April.
What did the Pentagon guidance say?
Last month, as senior U.S. Air Force leaders traveled to Orlando, Florida, for the 2026 Air Force Sergeants Association, high-level public affairs officers were instructed to tell military leaders not to use the name “Operation Epic Fury.” Instead, they were directed to use broader language: “overseas operations in the [U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility],” according to the Aug. 7 email obtained by CBS News.
The guidance was issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's central public affairs office, led by chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. It reiterated that U.S. Central Command must approve any information publicly released about the Iran conflict.
Military officials who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity said the directive was not exclusive to the Air Force and was disseminated across the entire Defense Department, including within individual services in August and September.
A Defense Department official told CBS News: “Following the April ceasefire, the administration stated Operation Epic Fury had concluded on May 5. Subsequent activities have included Freedom of Navigation operations and strikes to further diminish threats posed by the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] to commercial shipping, Gulf countries, and American forces.”
Why does the May 5 end date matter?
The U.S. military has historically published start and end dates for named operations, creating a public record of when one mission ends and another begins. Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, for example, ran from Oct. 7, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2014, before transitioning to Operation Freedom's Sentinel.
These dates establish campaign phases and eligibility for military awards, and they give Congress, service members, and the public a clear way to track the scope and duration of American military involvement abroad.
Rubio appears to be the only Trump administration official to publicly and explicitly state that Operation Epic Fury had concluded, though he did not specify the May 5 date. Hegseth, in a separate Pentagon briefing that same day, distinguished Epic Fury from the new Project Freedom, a defensive maritime mission to protect commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. He referred to Epic Fury in the past tense but did not explicitly declare it over. In April, after the temporary ceasefire, Hegseth called Epic Fury a “decisive military victory.”
What has happened since the operation officially ended?
May 5 was also the last time the Pentagon briefed the press on the war with Iran. Trump announced that day that Project Freedom would be paused for a “short period of time” to allow negotiations. Its current status remains unclear.
The May 5 date did not mark the end of the broader conflict. American forces continue missions tied to the war that began six months ago when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
On July 7, Trump formally notified Congress that “military action” against Iran had restarted, in a message addressed to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Senate's president pro tempore. Around that time, U.S.-Iran talks collapsed, and Trump declared the April ceasefire “over.”
Iranian forces have continued attacks on U.S. troops and commercial vessels since the ceasefire collapsed. The U.S. has also periodically struck Iran, including two rounds of strikes this week that drew Iranian counterattacks.
How are casualties being categorized?
The May 5 date carries significance beyond the operation's name. It provides a benchmark for understanding how the military counts Americans killed and wounded since the war with Iran began.
In July, the Defense Department's casualty website originally categorized four service members who died that month as killed in action during Operation Epic Fury, two months after it had officially ended.
On July 18, 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, Staff Sgt. Angel Rampersad, and Pfc. Isabella Gonzales were killed when an Iranian missile hit their sleeping barracks at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. The fourth, Staff Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, was killed July 19 in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian attack drone.
Within days, the four were moved on the Defense Department's website into a new category, “overseas operations,” created over the weekend of July 25. The move technically decreased the number killed in Epic Fury hostilities from 18 to 14.
When news outlets, including CBS News, asked why the change was made, Parnell on July 23 attributed it to a “temporary data disruption” and said the “site anomalies” were being resolved. The Pentagon declined at that time to say when Epic Fury had ended.
A Pentagon official now says: “Since Operation Epic Fury has concluded, the Department classifies casualties as overseas operations in the CENTCOM area of responsibility.”
As of publication, the Pentagon's Defense Casualty Analysis System shows five service members wounded in June and one killed in July categorized under Operation Epic Fury. It remains unclear why these service members are listed under an operation the Pentagon says ended in May, or why no end date for Epic Fury is listed on the site.
Why did the Pentagon issue the guidance months later?
The Pentagon's acknowledgment of the May 5 date raises questions about why its public affairs office found it necessary in early August to explicitly instruct senior leaders not to use the Operation Epic Fury banner when discussing ongoing operations. The Pentagon did not comment on why the guidance was sent out.
The situation also has a direct Iowa connection: Trump's July 7 notification to Congress about renewed military action was addressed to Grassley, who represents Iowa in the Senate. The notification marked a significant escalation in the conflict and signaled the collapse of diplomatic efforts.
As the conflict continues, Iowa families with loved ones serving in the region will be watching closely how the Pentagon classifies casualties and communicates about ongoing operations. The discrepancy between the official end date and continued combat raises legitimate questions about transparency and accountability.
