Gulf of Oman / Washington — The opening hours of Operation Epic Fury have lit up the night sky and shocked the world, as U.S. warships and submarines unleashed hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles toward targets deep inside Iran, in the largest single salvo of the conflict so far.

Sailors aboard destroyers in the Gulf describe a deafening sequence of launches: hatches snapping open, plumes of fire erupting from vertical launch cells, and one Tomahawk after another racing into the darkness on pillars of orange flame. From the decks, the horizon briefly looked like a row of rockets lifting off in slow motion, each programmed with precise coordinates for air‑defence radars, command bunkers and Revolutionary Guard bases.

Pentagon officials say the aim was to “kick down the door” of Iran’s integrated air defences before manned aircraft and stealth bombers moved in. The missiles, flying low over the sea and skimming across desert valleys, were tasked to smash long‑range radar sites, SAM batteries, fiber‑optic nodes and hardened command posts coordinating Iran’s missile and drone forces. Early satellite imagery shared with allies reportedly shows blackened craters where key installations once stood.

Iranian media calls the barrage a “cowardly rain of aggression,” but admits to “temporary disruption” at several facilities. In Washington, planners frame the Tomahawk storm as just the first act of Epic Fury — a message that if Tehran chooses to escalate further, the United States can fill the skies, and the map of Iran, with precision fire at a speed and scale the region has never seen.