Pentagon plans weeks-long sustained Iran air campaign, not single strike

U.S. defense officials briefed congressional leaders that military planning for Iran envisioned a sustained air campaign lasting several weeks rather than a single punitive strike, modeled on combined arms doctrine developed after the 1991 Gulf War. The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group was confirmed en route to the Persian Gulf on February 13, creating a two-carrier deployment alongside the USS Harry S. Truman. Pentagon planners designed the campaign to sequentially destroy Iran's air defenses, nuclear facilities, missile production sites, and naval assets in the Strait of Hormuz.