“They have no air force; it's been knocked out. They have no air detection – that's been knocked out.”

"Completely eliminated" is disproven by Iranian aircraft that kept flying and missiles that kept launching. On March 4, 2026, days into Operation Epic Fury, an Israeli F-35 had to shoot down an Iranian Yak-130 fighter jet over Tehran, and Qatar shot down two Iranian Su-24 bombers in the same period. An air force that is "completely eliminated" does not put jets in the air.

Iranian air and missile capability stayed active for months: on March 19 a U.S. F-35 made an emergency landing after a suspected hit by Iranian forces; on May 4 the UAE intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones; and on May 7 Iran fired missiles and drones at three U.S. Navy destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz.

The true element is degradation, not elimination: Iran's integrated air defense network was severely damaged in the opening strikes, and its missile and drone launch rates fell roughly 90%. But CENTCOM itself described its mission in early March as still "hunting Iran's last remaining mobile ballistic missile launchers," an ongoing campaign, not a completed one.

"Operational capacity — particularly in asymmetric warfare using drones — remained active." — Voice for Liberty fact-check on Iran's air capability after Operation Epic Fury, May 11, 2026