The US military may reportedly ban mobile phones for some of its troops deployed to West Asia amid Iran’s precise retaliatory operations against American targets across the region.
Citing two informed sources, Reuters reported on Wednesday that some US forces stationed in Jordan have been told their phones will be confiscated in the coming days, despite their reliance on the devices to stay in touch with their families during wartime.
The report also quoted another source as saying that cell phone restrictions for US troops were being considered more broadly across the region because of operational security reasons.
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), had detailed the concerns in a letter dated July 28.
In the previously undisclosed letter, Cooper said that Iran benefits from near real-time intelligence on the success or failure of its strikes by monitoring news reports and online posts, including “reactions, photos, and footage from the cell phones of our troops.”
“The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service members” in targeted Persian Gulf Arab countries, he added, urging American forces to “redouble our focus on operational security.”
The urgency of Cooper’s message was underlined by a video posted online, showing a US service member recording as soldiers ran for shelter during an Iranian reprisal attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, also known as al-Azraq Air Base, in Jordan on July 17.
The top US commander for West Asia appeared to reference the footage in his letter, saying it was recorded on Meta smart glasses with a built-in camera.
He also warned in his letter that public disclosures of strike details could prompt Iran to launch “a secondary, much more devastating wave of attacks.”
The United States and the Israeli regime waged their first criminal military assault against Iran, which lasted 12 days, in June 2025. Their second aggression began on February 28, 2026 and came to a halt in early April after 40 days.
In both wars, Iran’s brave resistance and successful retaliatory operations forced the enemies to accept a ceasefire.
This month, however, the US conducted waves of deadly air raids on Iran in violation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Republic, signed on June 17, to end the war.
In response, Iranian armed forces launched devastating attacks against strategic American targets across West Asia, dealing heavy blows to the terrorist US military.
