CNN Military Analyst Says Operation Epic Fury Weakens China, Russia

A CNN senior military analyst said on Tuesday that the demonstration of military force and precision on display in Operation Epic Fury was enough to make the political leadership in both Russia and China sit up and take notice.

Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.) joined anchor Kasie Hunt on “The Arena with Kasie Hunt,” where he argued that in addition to capturing the complete attention of global adversaries, the United States was also progressively weakening both Russia and China as it weakened Iran.

WATCH:

🚨NEW: CNN Senior Military Analyst James Stavridis🇺🇸

“If you are Xi or Putin, you have to RESPECT the military capability. What the US Military has done in the last 2 months is EXTRAORDINARY. It’ll get your attention in Beijing & Moscow. Weakening Iran weakens Russia & China.” pic.twitter.com/CmWMLfxtwY

— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) March 3, 2026

“If you are Xi or Putin, you hate us, but you have to respect the military capability of the United States,” Stavridis explained. “And it’s Midnight Hammer, it’s the snatch-and-grab on Maduro, and now a pretty massive bombing campaign. And yeah, we’ll have some missteps and some foot faults here and there, but when you look at the span of what the U.S. military has done in the last two months, it’s pretty extraordinary, it’ll get your attention in Beijing and Moscow.”

Stavridis went on to say that he didn’t believe the United States had attacked Iran solely to demonstrate strength — although that was certainly a byproduct of the campaign — but because every hit that damages Iran also strategically weakens both Russia and China, although for different reasons.

“By weakening Iran, you are weakening Russia, you are weakening China,” he said. “China looks at Iran as a big investment opportunity. Russia looks at Iran as an arms and technology supplier. Many of the drones flying in Ukraine today were made in Iran. So there’s a geopolitical pragmatism that can affix itself to these strikes in terms of degrading both Russia and China.”

As Operation Epic Fury, undertaken alongside Israel, stretched into its fifth day, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. naval assets had destroyed a hefty portion of the Iranian regime’s navy — and that American forces had set their sights on cutting off access to and from Iranian airspace.