During a visit Thursday to U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attacks on the Iranian regime will continue until objectives are met.
During a press briefing after meeting with CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, Hegseth said the U.S. solely controls the timeline of activities in Iran and will do so “as long as it takes.
CENTCOM, based at MacDill Air Force Base, oversees the U.S. military in the Middle East.
“We set the tempo,” Hegseth said. “We set the timeline led by the commander on the ground.”
U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28 “to dismantle the Iranian regime’s security apparatus, prioritizing locations that posed an imminent threat,” according to CENTCOM.
“If you think you’ve seen something, just wait,” Hegseth boasted. “The amount of combat power that’s still flowing, that’s still coming, that will be able to project over Iran is multiples of what it currently is right now.”
He also promised the fight will continue until the Iranian regime’s threat is gone. He has estimated that it could be up to eight weeks.
“Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation,” Hegseth said. “You see, there's no shortage of American will here."
He said U.S. munitions are “full up” and will allow the campaign to continue “as long as we need to.”
“The dumb politically correct wars of the past were the opposite of what we're doing here,” Hegseth said. “They had vague objectives with restrictive, minimalist rules of engagement. No more.”
Hegseth also paid tribute to six soldiers who died on the second day of the campaign through a retaliatory drone at a Kuwait base. That included Capt. Cody Khork, a 17-year veteran from Winter Haven.
“We remember and honor our fallen — those six that we will soon welcome at Dover who gave everything for their country and this mission,” Hegseth said.
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Cooper said the operation will next seek to “raze” Iran’s missile industry, but added it will take time.
"We're not just hitting what they have. We're destroying their ability to rebuild," he said.
The first days of the air attack included more than 2,000 strikes with over 2,000 munitions launched from air, land, and sea, according to CENTCOM.
Cooper detailed other U.S. military accomplishments through six days of war:
- Since Monday, bombs have struck nearly 200 targets deep inside of Iran, including around Tehran.
- On Thursday, B-2 bombers dropped "dozens of 2,000-pound penetrators" targeting deeply buried ballistic missile launchers.
- At least 30 Iranian ships have been destroyed.
- Iran's “equivalent of Space Command” has been destroyed.
At the same time, he said, Iran’s ability to strike back through missiles and drones has decreased “significantly.”
“If I look back over the last 24 hours of the operation compared to where we were at its start, ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90% since day one. Drone attacks have decreased by 83% since day one,” Cooper said.
One of those drones in the Shuaiba port in Kuwait killed Khork, 35, and five other Army reservists assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command out of Iowa. The attack is under investigation.
“We remember them by rededicating ourselves even more fervently to this mission," Hegseth said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
