The secretary is set to meet with CENTCOM officials for updates on military operations in Iran, otherwise known as Operation Epic Fury.
TAMPA, Fla. — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is visiting U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Thursday.
Hegseth is set to meet with CENTCOM commander, Admiral Brad Cooper, for updates on military operations in Iran, otherwise known as Operation Epic Fury.
Prior to his stop at MacDill AFB, the secretary is stopping in Doral to host the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference at the U.S. Southern Command Headquarters. He’ll meet with security leaders from the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
The visit comes five days into military operations in the Middle East. On Wednesday, Hegseth confirmed that an American submarine had sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean with a torpedo.
Iran responded with a new wave of attacks Thursday morning at Israel, American bases and countries around the region, threatening that the United States would “bitterly regret” targeting the ship and calling for “Trump’s blood.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. Navy of committing an “atrocity at sea” for sinking the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, which killed at least 87 Iranian sailors.
“Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set,” he said on social media.
CENTCOM officials say there have been over 2,000 strikes in the first four days of Iran military operations.
“U.S. forces have decimated the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile capabilities and are sinking their naval vessels to the bottom of the sea,” officials wrote in a news release.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.