An internal US Air Force email revealed that the Pentagon directed the military to stop using the name “Operation Epic Fury” when talking about the ongoing military operations against Iran, three months after the US administration announced the official end of the operation.
According to a report published by CBS News on Wednesday, the Pentagon confirmed that the operation officially ended on May 5, the same day that Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the United States’ transition to a new phase under the name “Project Freedom.”
US President Donald Trump had informed Congress, 4 days earlier, of the end of hostilities related to the operation.
Despite the announcement of the end of the “epic fury,” intermittent confrontations continued between the United States and Iran, and included an exchange of attacks after the collapse of the ceasefire that began in early April.
On July 7, Trump officially informed Congress of the resumption of military action against Iran, coinciding with the faltering talks and his announcement of the end of the ceasefire.
An email dated August 7 showed that military officials were instructed not to use the name “Operation Epic Fury,” and to replace it with the broader phrase “foreign operations within the scope of responsibility of the US Central Command,” according to CBS News.
According to the letter, the directives were issued by the Central Public Affairs Office of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and stressed the need for any information published regarding the confrontation with Iran to obtain the approval of the US Central Command.
The network quoted military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, that the directives were not limited to the Air Force, but were circulated to various sectors of the Ministry of Defense during August and September.
A Pentagon official said that the military activities that followed the ceasefire included operations to protect freedom of navigation and strikes aimed, in his words, at reducing the threats posed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to commercial ships, Gulf states, and American forces.
