Cooper defends U.S. civilian-harm record amid Iran war scrutiny

Adm. Brad Cooper went before the Senate Armed Services Committee with a claim of precision under fire, but much of the civilian-harm question in Iran remained unresolved. Cooper said reducing civilian casualties was a "particular passion" of his, yet he declined to estimate how many civilians had been killed in the war and said the bombing of a school at the start of the conflict was still under investigation.

The hearing sharpened the gap between Pentagon assurances and outside reporting. Cooper said there was no evidence corroborating reports that several schools and hospitals were bombed, even as lawmakers and human rights groups pressed for a fuller accounting of what happened in Iran and who was hit. His testimony came at a moment when the U.S. military’s own civilian-harm apparatus had been reduced sharply, with the CENTCOM office for that work cut from 10 employees to one, and the remaining staff folded into other duties.

That skepticism was already visible on Capitol Hill. In March, more than 40 Senate Democrats asked the Defense Department for answers about an alleged strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran. Their letter said reports described at least 168 deaths, most of them children, in the February 28 strike, and cited Human Rights Activists News Agency figures showing more than 1,245 civilians killed and more than 12,000 injured in the war as of March 10.

Human Rights Watch later said Americans deserved answers about civilian casualties in Iran, warning that the pattern echoed earlier U.S. wars in which initial claims of precision were later followed by civilian death tolls. The group pointed to a new investigation alleging a February 28 strike in Lamerd, in southern Iran, hit an elementary school and sports hall. It said U.S. Central Command denied carrying out any strike in or near Lamerd that day, while independent verification remained difficult because Iran shut down its internet.

Cooper’s written statement portrayed the campaign in sweeping military terms. He said Iran’s proxies had been degraded in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria, and said Iran’s nuclear program suffered a "devastating setback" during Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER. He also said U.S. Central Command assessed that Iran could no longer project power across the region the way it could before Operation EPIC FURY.

Other reporting on the hearing said Cooper told senators the U.S. had destroyed more than 90% of Iran’s inventory of 8,000 naval mines, underscoring the administration’s effort to frame the war as a military success even as the civilian toll stayed contested. The same hearing laid bare the central question now facing Congress and the Pentagon: whether official claims of restraint can be independently verified before the next round of testimony turns the issue into settled history.