TAMPA, Fla. — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday delivered remarks in Tampa about the war in Iran.
He visited the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) headquarters, which is overseeing military operations in Iran. Hegesth also met with Centcom Cmdr. Adm. Brad Cooper for an update on Operation Epic Fury, which started a week ago.
Hegseth said those operations have just begun.
“We have only just begun to fight and fight divisively, having a chance to hear from Admiral (Brad) Cooper, if you think you’ve seen something, just wait,” he said. “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, and that’s when you add up our capabilities and the Israeli defense forces.”
Cooper said Centcom has been working around the clock on this mission.
“We are at full speed ahead, in executing orders given by leadership in Washington,” he said. “The president and Secretary Hegseth have been crystal clear in their expectations and we are at a high level of execution.”
Hegseth’s visit came just a day after a U.S. submarine took out an Iranian warship. It was the first time a U.S. submarine torpedoed an enemy ship since World War II.
The U.S.-Israeli blitz is continuing in Iran Thursday, an operation President Donald Trump said could be ongoing for weeks.
So far, government officials say the operation has killed as many as 40 top military and political leaders in Iran, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and hit more than 2,000 targets on the ground.
U.S. officials said the mission has been a success so far, but it hasn’t come without a cost. Earlier this week, six American troops were killed during an Iranian drone strike on a command center in Kuwait, and one was identified as Winter Haven resident Capt. Cody Khork.
Spectrum News spoke remotely with Army Sgt. 1st Class Brian Kockendorfer in Tennessee, who served with Khork in the 810th Military Police Company.
“Knowing somebody personally, you’ve gotten to work with them, that’s when it hits,” Kochendorfer said. “It hits home very directly. Look, I’m going to start tearing up, that’s how close you get to people you work with, particularly Cody.”
As the military strikes move forward in Iran, Trump has said that American troops will not have to be deployed on the ground. Trump said that while the end goal of the operation isn’t regime change, he is encouraging Iranians to take back their government.