On August 13, 2026, Israel’s Channel 13 reported that U.S. Central Command commander Admiral Brad Cooper told Israeli officials he was pushing for renewed strikes and a resumption of conflict against Iran. The network stated Cooper argued that hitting Iranian infrastructure, such as oil and gas facilities, would change the rules of the game and hurt Iran badly, and suggested the U.S. might need to resume hostilities with Israeli assistance.
On August 14, CENTCOM spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins directly rejected the report when asked by i24NEWS, calling the claim an outright fabrication and stating it was not true at all. OSINTdefender subsequently paired the original Channel 13-sourced claim and CENTCOM’s denial as a quote-tweet. Neither Channel 13 nor CENTCOM has published further documentation beyond the original report and denial.