Brad Cooper, the top U.S. commander overseeing Middle East operations, said to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps remains dominant [1].
The testimony highlights a strategic gap between Iran's actual military capabilities and its ability to disrupt global trade. While the U.S. may have weakened Iran's hardware, the psychological and rhetorical power of the IRGC continues to destabilize critical maritime corridors.
Cooper said that Iran’s military is "dramatically degraded" [2]. However, he said that the IRGC continues to exert "outsized influence over global shipping lanes through rhetoric and psychological pressure alone" [2].
This influence manifests as a direct economic threat to the private sector. Cooper said that "threats from Iran are loudly heard by the merchant and insurance industries, impacting movement through the Strait of Hormuz" [2].
The commander's remarks during the hearing in Washington, D.C., suggest that military pressure alone may not be sufficient to secure these waters [1]. Cooper said that the current situation indicates negotiations may be necessary to address the ongoing instability [1].
By targeting the insurance and merchant industries, the IRGC can create economic bottlenecks without engaging in full-scale kinetic warfare. This tactic allows Iran to maintain leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil and goods, despite the diminished state of its broader military forces [1, 2].
“"dramatically degraded"”
This testimony suggests a shift in U.S. military assessment, acknowledging that asymmetric psychological warfare can be as effective as physical weaponry. By influencing insurance rates and merchant confidence, the IRGC can achieve strategic goals, such as disrupting trade in the Strait of Hormuz, without needing a top-tier conventional military. This creates a policy tension between those favoring maximum pressure and those advocating for diplomatic negotiations to stabilize global markets.
