WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – The U.S. campaign against Iran marked its most intense day of strikes yet, according to military officials.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said American forces are ‘winning’ the fight. Conversely, he characterized Iran as isolated and ‘badly losing.”
“Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran. The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes,” he said.
Hegseth also pushed back on comparisons to past U.S. wars in the Middle East. He said President Donald Trump will ultimately determine when the campaign ends.
“The president is leading. He’s determining where we want to go, what the outcome will be, what the end state is,” he said.
According to the Pentagon, the U.S. campaign has further degraded Iran’s ability to launch attacks. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said U.S. strikes have reduced Iranian ballistic missile attacks by about 90% and one-way drone attacks by roughly 83%.
Caine said U.S. forces have also targeted Iran’s naval capabilities, with more than 50 Iranian vessels hit during the operation. Still, he acknowledged Iranian forces have adjusted their tactics as the conflict continues.
“They’re adapting, as are we. Of course. We are watching what they’re doing, and we are adapting faster than they are,” he said.
Caine explained the next phase of “Operation Epic Fury” will focus more heavily on Iran’s military industrial complex, including facilities used to produce drones and missiles.
“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 one-way attack drones,” Caine said.
President Donald Trump has offered mixed signals on how long the conflict could last. On Monday he said operations in Iran could end “soon,” though he later said the U.S. has “won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough.”
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