What are the goals of Operation Epic Fury?

The administration’s stated objectives

The White House and senior administration figures framed Operation Epic Fury as a sustained military campaign intended to strip Iran of capabilities the U.S. regards as a direct threat and to weaken the regime’s hold on power. President Donald Trump described the campaign in terms that emphasized regime change and liberation, saying the effort sought to open a path for Iranians to pursue greater freedom.

Publicly stated aims include:

• Degrading Iran’s weapons infrastructure, including missile and other military production sites.
• Targeting locations tied to the supreme leadership; Israeli officials confirmed strikes on sites linked to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
• Disrupting command‑and‑control, intelligence and logistics nodes used to project power regionally.
• Creating political pressure on Iran’s rulers by combining kinetic blows with diplomatic and economic measures.

The campaign appears to combine precision strikes with a broader U.S. and Israeli strategy to dismantle key capabilities while signaling resolve to allies and adversaries. Analysts and some military officials warn that the operation also risks exposing a power vacuum inside Iran, testing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ control and possibly provoking further violence across the region. It is still unclear how far the campaign will go toward the stated aim of forcing regime change, what metrics the administration will use to declare success, and how partners and Congress will respond if the operation continues beyond an initial phase.