The head of US Central Command, Adm Brad Cooper, has claimed the US has escalated its strikes on Iran over the past three days.

Speaking in a fresh update, Cooper said US forces have hit nearly 200 targets in Iran in the last 72 hours.

He also claimed the US has now sunk more than 30 Iranian vessels.

“And in just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier,” Cooper said, adding that it was “on fire” at the time of his remarks.