Military personnel told last month to stop calling Iran conflict "Operation Epic Fury"

Washington — An Air Force email from August and obtained by CBS News shows the Pentagon was instructing personnel to stop referring to ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran as "Operation Epic Fury" — three months after the Trump administration declared it had ended.

In response to questions from CBS News, the Pentagon said Wednesday that Operation Epic Fury officially ended May 5, the same day Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared to reporters at the White House: "The operation is over. Epic Fury is — the president notified Congress — we're done with that stage of it. We're now on to this Project Freedom." Four days earlier, Mr. Trump told Congress the "hostilities" had "terminated."

Previously, the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command had declined to disclose the operation's formal end date for months. The U.S. and Iran have continued to exchange on-and-off fire since Operation Epic Fury's official end date, though there have been lengthy pauses in fighting, including during a ceasefire that began in early April.

But the date also raises questions about how the Pentagon categorizes service members who were killed and wounded after "Operation Epic Fury" formally ended, or why guidance over what to call ongoing U.S. military operations against Iran came months after the May end date.

Last month, as senior U.S. Air Force leaders flew to Orlando, Florida, to attend the 2026 Air Force Sergeants Association, high-level public affairs officers were instructed to inform military leaders not to use "Operation Epic Fury." They were told to instead use broader language to refer to the conflict: "overseas operations in the [U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility]," according to an email containing the guidance that was obtained by CBS News and dated Aug. 7.

The Air Force email shows that the guidance was issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's central public affairs office led by Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman. It reiterated that U.S. Central Command had to approve information publicly released about the Iran conflict.

U.S. military officials who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity said the guidance was not exclusive to the U.S. Air Force and was disseminated across the entire Defense Department. Military officials, who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said the guidance was also disseminated within their services in August and September.

Contacted by CBS News, a Defense Department official said: "Following the April ceasefire, the administration stated Operation Epic Fury had concluded on May 5. Subsequent activities have included Freedom of Navigation operations and strikes to further diminish threats posed by the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] to commercial shipping, Gulf countries, and American forces."

The U.S. military has historically published start and end dates for named military operations, creating a public record of when one mission ends and another begins. Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, for example, began Oct. 7, 2001, and ended on Dec.