US forces will now go ‘deeper into Iran’s military and industrial base,’ Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters
The U.S. military has sunk more than 50 Iranian naval ships and hit more than 5,000 targets inside the country, dropping dozens of 2,000 pound GPS-guided bombs on “deeply buried missile launchers” across the Islamic Republic, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
“Those jets are fully loaded with missiles and bombs, and they are a world class team combined with the naval aviation and the aviators in those jets,” Caine told reporters during a Tuesday morning press conference at the Pentagon alongside Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. “This beautiful symphony of American spirit is the definition of perfectly organized chaos, and these crews do it every single time the carrier is at work.”
“We’ve begun to target Iran’s military and industrial complex, again, focusing on centers of gravity to get upstream of the shooters out in the field in order to deny them the ability to continue to generate those, those one way attack drones,” Caine said. “We also have struck several one way drone factories to get at the heart of their autonomous capability.”
The United States has three primary objectives: Destroy Iran’s ballistic missile stockpiles, eradicate its drone capabilities, and stop the Islamic Republic from fomenting terrorism across the Middle East. To accomplish this goal, the United States is “attacking launch sites, command and control notes,” and weapons stockpiles hidden across Iran, Caine said.
U.S. forces will now “start working on and going deeper into Iran’s military and industrial base in order to prevent the regime from being able to attack Americans, our interests, and our partners for years to come, and project power outside their borders,” Caine noted. Targets will include “production facilities, research and development sites, and infrastructure” linked to the hardline regime’s terror forces.
Iran’s “higher-end surface-to-air missile systems are not factors,” Caine added, meaning Iranian airspace is now under U.S. control. “We’re able to move around fighters that are moving deeper with relative impunity.”
Caine also noted that the United States has demolished more than 50 Iranian naval ships using a “combination of artillery, fighters, bombers, and sea launch missiles,” eliminating Tehran’s ability to strangle the Strait of Hormuz and threaten commercial ships traveling there. U.S. forces will also begin dismantling mine-laying vessels in the Persian Gulf to ensure freedom of navigation for ships ferrying oil through the critical trade route.
The United States’ joint operations with Israel, meanwhile, now focus on countering Iran’s one-way attack drones. Both countries have used fighter jets and attack helicopters to shoot unmanned systems out of the air, decreasing Tehran’s output by around 83 percent since the campaign started.