Operation Epic Fury Is Already a Success: Why the US Must Exercise Strategic Restraint to Avoid Overreach
Lt Gen Devendra Pratap Pandey (Retd)
Former Corps Commander, Chinar Corps | DG Territorial Army | Director of Military Intelligence | Commandant, Army War College
Overview
By March 2026 the unleashing of ‘Operation Epic Fury’ by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) jointly with Israel (Operation Lions Roar) had tactfully and strategically erased the power stamps of Iran.
While ‘Operation Epic Fury’ reflects an ‘America First’ grand strategy that is aimed less at Iran and more at constraining China’s rise. A broader reading situates the US’ actions within an intensifying US-China rivalry. By leveraging sanctions and influence over energy chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz, and targeting oil rich states like Iran and Venezuela, Washington could shape global energy flows that underpin China’s manufacturing economy. Combined with trade restrictions, technology controls, and alliance-building, energy pressure becomes a structural tool to exploit China’s vulnerabilities without direct military confrontation.
Get Your Copy of Snow Leopards of Gurez: The Prisoner and the Spy Who Exposed Pakistan’s Kargil Plot
However, in Mar 2026, US should have called off the operation as recommended then in my paper.
Now it is too late.
Do read….
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Keywords
Operation Epic Fury, Iran nuclear programme, US Iran strategy, Israel Iran conflict, IRGC, ballistic missile capability, Strait of Hormuz, regime change, strategic restraint, Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, regional deterrence, Middle East security, Trump administration foreign policy, Operation Rising Lion, Operation Midnight Hammer, nuclear non-proliferation, Gulf security architecture.