The secretary of war told reporters the United States will destroy Iran’s missile stockpiles, navy, and nuclear weapons ambitions
The U.S. military is launching its “most intense day of strikes inside Iran,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said during a Tuesday morning press briefing. The operations will include “the most fighters, the most bombers, [and] the most strikes” since Operation Epic Fury began 10 days ago, according to Hegseth.
“We’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force,” Hegseth said alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. “We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.”
Ultimately, Hegseth said, Operation Epic Fury is a fight against the “barbaric savages” in Tehran.
“Our generation understands this fight,” he said. “For 47 years, these barbaric savages in the Iranian regime have murdered our brothers in arms—my guys, your guys, our guys—through their terrorist proxies and cowardly attacks. Now they race toward a nuclear bomb to hold the world hostage. The Iranians have targeted and killed thousands of my American brothers. That race to a nuclear bomb? President Trump will never allow it—not now, not ever, not on our watch.”
He then invoked Psalm 144 to honor the seven U.S. service members killed in action.
“May the Lord grant unyielding strength and refuge to our warriors, unbreakable protection to them in our homeland and total victory over those who seek to harm them,” Hegseth said. As U.S. forces systematically dismantle Iran’s ballistic missile program and drone capabilities, the Iranian regime has found itself unable to wreak havoc across the Persian Gulf. Drone strikes are down by 83 percent while ballistic attacks have plummeted by 90 percent. In the last 24 hours alone, Hegseth noted, “we have seen Iran fire the lowest number of missiles they’ve been capable of firing yet.”
The United States’ mission remains unchanged, Hegseth said. The military will destroy Iran’s missile stockpiles, eradicate the country’s navy, and “permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons forever.”
“It’s a laser-focused maximum authority mission delivered with overwhelming and unrelenting precision,” he told reporters. “No hesitation, no half measures. As President Trump declared yesterday, we’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force. We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.”
Hegseth said the United States’ “total air dominance” and robust intelligence networks have allowed the U.S. military to “destroy [Iran’s] missile stockpiles, their missile launchers, and their defense industrial base.” He added that the regime is on its last legs.
“The mullahs are desperate and scrambling like the terrorist cowards they are,” Hegseth said. “Iran stands alone, and they are badly losing. On Day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus.”
The secretary of war told reporters that Iran’s regional terror proxies are incapable of coming to Tehran’s aid, leaving the regime more exposed and isolated than ever before.
“Iran’s neighbors—and in some cases former allies in the Gulf—they’ve abandoned them,” he said. “And their proxies Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas [are] either broken, ineffective, or on the sidelines.”