Inside Operation Epic Fury: Minute-by-minute account after Trump’s ‘go’ order sparked 37-hour B-2 bomber sprint to Iran with 100 US fighter jets and Tomahawk storm

Donald Trump’s top general has delivered a gripping, minute-by-minute account of the President’s ‘Operation Epic Rage’ to kill Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and cripple Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine spoke to reporters alongside Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon on Monday, two days after Trump launched a war with Iran.

Caine said B-2 bombers made 37-hour journeys from the continental United States to drop bombs on underground nuclear facilities in Iran, and an unprecedented ‘wave’ of 100 planes was released from land and sea.

It revealed the dramatic moment when Trump unilaterally decided to start a war with the Islamic regime.

‘At 15:38 on Friday, February 27, United States Central Command received the final order from President Trump through the Secretary of War. The President directed, and I quote, “Operation Epic Fury approved. No cancellations. Good luck.”‘

When Trump took the stage in Texas two hours after giving the order to Caine, he claimed he was still undecided and said about Iran: ‘We have a huge decision to make…I’d rather do it peacefully. But they are very difficult people.’

At 2:30 a.m. EST, the president released a video from Mar-a-Lago announcing that the country was at war with Iran.

Caine explained that the initial strike targeted Iran’s leadership, ballistic missile sites and intelligence infrastructure, which ‘deprived the enemy of the ability to effectively see, coordinate or respond’.

‘As dawn broke in the Central Command operating area at 9:45 a.m. Tehran time, the sky came alive,’ he told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday.

‘Over a hundred aircraft launched from land, sea, fighters, tankers, bombers… creating a single synchronized wave,’ Caine said.

‘This was a daylight attack based on a triggering event by Israeli defense forces activated by the US intelligence community.’

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine arrive at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on March 2 for a press conference on U.S. military action against Iran.

This footage provided by U.S. Central Command shows Navy sailors transporting ordnance on the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday.

A member of Israeli security and rescue forces works at the scene where a ballistic missile fired from Iran hit Tel Aviv, Israel, causing damage in the early hours of March 1.

Smoke rises after the attack in Tehran, Iran on Monday

At 5pm EST, Trump announced that the Ayatollah had died in Tehran following the Israeli attack.

Referring to the attack on the Ayatollah, Caine said the daytime attack was based on a ‘triggering event carried out by Israeli defense forces provided by US Tomahawks’.

He said America ‘conducted a massive, overwhelming offensive across all areas of the war, hitting a thousand targets in the first 24 hours’.

Caine added that cyber and space commands were deployed to ‘confuse the enemy.’

He went on to argue that the military goal that no longer involved regime change in Iran would be ‘difficult to achieve and in some cases a formidable task.’

The general added that US forces were expected to suffer additional casualties. As a result of Trump’s war, four US soldiers have died and 18 soldiers have been reported injured so far.

Hegseth and Caine stated that the ultimate goal in war with Iran is to destroy Iran’s military and nuclear weapons developments.

There is no indication that joint US-Israeli strikes have hit any of Iran’s nuclear facilities, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

Trump’s mission is to “protect and defend ourselves and, together with our regional partners, to prevent Iran’s ability to project power beyond its borders,” Caine said.

The operation is claimed to be the result of ‘months and in some cases years of deliberate planning and refinement’.

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows an E-2D Hawkeye preparing to land aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday.

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows an F/A-18E Super Hornet preparing to make an aborted landing on USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Sunday.

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows an F/A-18F Super Hornet launching from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on Sunday in support of Operation Epic Fury.

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows the MH-60S Sea Hawk preparing to land on USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday.

This footage provided by U.S. Central Command shows an F/A-18E Super Hornet landing aboard USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Sunday.

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a Navy sailor on guard duty on the bridge of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Sunday.

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows an F/A-18E Super Hornet preparing to take off from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday.

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows an E-2D Hawkeye preparing to make an aborted landing aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday.

The rising death toll comes after Trump told the Daily Mail in an exclusive telephone interview on Sunday that the war with Iran could continue for the next four weeks.

Iran responded to the US war with drone and missile attacks on countries in the Middle East.

Operation Epic Fury resulted in the deaths of Iran’s top leaders

Iran retaliated against US and Israeli attacks with a barrage of missiles on neighboring countries; some of these breached air defense systems (seen in Dubai)

Trump hasn’t offered an exit strategy or timeframe to end war with Iran

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a Navy sailor observing flight operations aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday.

Neither Caine nor Hegseth offered a definitive timeline or exit strategy for a U.S. exit from Iran. There are currently no troops deployed in Iran.

Prewar estimates indicated that there were approximately 40,000 U.S. personnel in various roles in the Middle East.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail on Sunday, Trump said the war with Iran could last up to four weeks.

‘This has always been a four-week process. We thought it would take about four weeks. “This has always been about a four-week process, no matter how strong a country is, it’s going to be four weeks or less,” Trump said.

Hegseth claimed that ‘America did not start this war’, announcing plans to build a ‘missile shield’ to protect Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“We didn’t start this war, but we’re ending it under President Trump,” Hegseth said at a news conference Monday at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

While a fourth US soldier was confirmed dead following Iran’s attack on a base in Kuwait, he warned that “war is hell and will always remain so.”