Iran War Briefing: Sec of War Hegseth, Gen. Caine Mar 31, 2026

I actually gave him my card and told him to keep me posted on the ground truth. I did the same with his boss, a colonel with a heart the size of Texas and a beautiful deployment mustache to match. I witnessed lethality. I met a junior airman as the sun was going down and a chill was setting on the tarmac, who when asked what they needed, he simply looked up at me with a sly smile on her face and said, More bombs, but we will happily supply them. I met the Army targeting team who found and sunk the pride and joy of the Iranian Navy. Their fighting position plastered with images of sunken enemy ships. And I witnessed urgency. Right when we landed, another C-17 landed just minutes after us. And within 30 seconds of the aircraft coming to a full stop, a team on the ground pulled up and a cargo was being uploaded. Wartime speed. To a man and to a woman on the ground, in the air, on the flight line, and in the cockpit, I heard, We want everything faster. Higher op tempo. Wartime speed. The feeling was the exact opposite of the rotational units year after year in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that we're so familiar with. In those wars, it was always about the next rotation, never knowing when the mission would end or exactly what the mission was, year after year. Not with epic fury. I witnessed urgency to finish the job, urgency to achieve mission success, not looking at the next rotation, only moving as fast as possible to win. I got a chance to troop the line, to witness firsthand what we already know is true. We spoke to all ranks and all services, none of whom knew we were coming. We were not rehearsed or scripted. Sometimes we just wandered. What I witnessed was motivation. It was sheer mission vocal. It was the American warrior unleashed. It was the kind of warfighting American spirit that comes with a clear mission against a determined enemy. A crew chief we flew with summed it up nicely. He said, It's been a busy few weeks, sir. Tough stuff. But I'm so honored to be called up. This fight is long overdue. We need to address it for our kids. We cannot pass the buck. Please thank the President for a month. I heard that time and time again. I asked each young American, What do you need? And nobody said better equipment. Nobody said more comfortable living conditions. Nobody said send me home. Well, of course, eventually we want all those things. Maybe two. What those Americans said to me, young and old, officer and NCO, male and female, black and white, was let's finish the mission. Get us even more bombs, bigger bombs, more targets. Let us finish the mission. In fact, Admiral Cooper noted this morning that the three Air Force captains shot down by Kuwaiti-friendly fire early in the fight weeks ago. They never left the theater. All dropped bombs over Tehran last night. These men and women live the Iranian threat every day, incoming missiles and drones, and know what the world would look like if Iran had the most dangerous weapons in the world, a nuclear weapon. As President Trump has said time and time again for years and in this administration, Iran cannot have nuclear bombs on their own. These troops, they want to finish this fight for their kids and their grandkids. This is about history. This is about legacy. Success matters. And because of this president and these Americans, we're closer than ever before to winning. President Trump is doing what no other president had the guts to do. Previous presidents were all talk. This is all action. On the battlefield, because of the latitude the president has given us, American firepower is only increasing. Iran's decreasing. We have more and more options, and they have less. Just one month in, only one month, we set the terms. The upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that, and there's almost nothing they can militarily do about it. Yes, they will still shoot some missiles, but we will shoot them down. Of note, the last 24 hours saw the lowest number of enemy missiles and drones fired by Iran. They will go underground, but we will find them. We recently destroyed another one of their command bunkers. Leaders forced to flee. No water, no power, no oxygen, no command control. Their faith in their caves is diminishing. The latest intel is clear out of CENTCOM. Our strikes are damaging the morale of the Iranian military, leading to widespread desertions, key personnel shortages, and causing frustrations amongst senior leaders. Just last night, we had 200 dynamic strikes alone. Dynamic strikes are strikes where a pilot leaves, and during their flight, they get a new target set based on real-time intel given to them. A new launcher, a new location, a new platform. A dynamic target is one that changes while you're in the air because of the improved intel. 200 dynamic strikes alone, in addition to three ground strikes. The video the President posted last night of Esfahan, an ammo depot, struck by U.S. bombers. You don't get to see many of those videos because, as a reminder, Iran has still shut off the Internet. But if Iran is wise, they will cut a deal. President Trump doesn't bluff, and he does not back down. You can ask Khomeini about that. The new Iranian regime should know that by now. This new regime, because regime change has occurred, should be wiser than the last. President Trump will make a deal he is willing to make. And the terms of the deal are known to them. If Iran is not willing, then the United States War Department will continue with even more intensity. Standing here this morning in this briefing room, in my mind's eye, I'm actually looking out at the people I met this morning. The pilots, the logisticians, the intel analysts, the targeters, the sustainers, the flight crews, the air defenders, the base security, those maintainers who walked up at sunset with a chill in the air on the flight. May God watch over all of them each day and each night. May his almighty and eternal arms of providence stretch over them and protect them and bring them peace. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Good morning, everyone, and thank you again for being here. As operations continue, I remain deeply grateful for the service and determination of 2.8 million members of our joint force, each of whom are serving something greater than themselves. Every day, those deployed, and in many cases, those at home who are deploying forward and bomber pulses and others, put themselves in harm's way, and we owe them a deep debt of gratitude. I remain especially grateful for our fallen who gave the ultimate sacrifice. We'll never forget their valor and their determination to do something greater than themselves, and each day we continue to earn what they've given to us. This morning, I want to share that yesterday the joint force had the honor of participating in the burial of Colonel Clarence who passed away in May of 2024 at the ripe old age of 102. He was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery yesterday morning alongside his wife of 70 years, Eleanor, who he married on February 23, 1945. She passed away in 2015 at the age of 92. Bud, yesterday, a legend to our Air Force and fighter pilots everywhere, was honored with a combination fly-by of F-35s and a warship of P-51s. He was one of the most prolific flying aces of World War II, and the highest scoring P-51 ace with 16 1⁄4 kills in his squadron and in his group. He served from 1942 to 1972, and his last combat tour was flying F-104 Thunderchiefs over North Vietnam. For anyone that had the chance to meet Colonel Anderson, you knew what an incredibly special man he was, and that's true for each and every one of our World War II vets who become fewer and fewer with each passing day. They are the greatest generation and give us the gift of an incredible example as we execute Operation Epic Fury today. Colonel Anderson, we mourn for your loss and remember that smile on the right side as you went out to do our nation's business. I'd like to now share an operational update. Our Joint Force continues to focus on our military objectives as we systematically continue to degrade and destroy Iran's ability to project power and threaten stability beyond its borders. First, the Joint Force continues to destroy Iran's ballistic missile and UAS capabilities. We remain focused on interdicting and destroying the logistical and supply chains that feed these programs, and this remains a truly joint effort prosecuted around the clock from air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace. Long-range bombers from U.S. Strategic Command are coordinating with tactical fighter aircraft from our Joint Force, launched from bases around the region and the continental United States, while simultaneously Navy fighters from the sea and sailors continue to project power from the sea, while Army and Marine artillery units continue to execute long-range precision fires deep into enemy territory against high-value targets. Meanwhile, on the defense side, our Army and air defenders and aviators, as the Secretary talked about, remain vigilant, forming a shield to protect our forces and our partners intercepting missiles and drones. Together, we continue to deliver precision strikes against key manufacturing nodes, component storage sites, research facilities deep within Iranian territory. And over the past 29, I'm sorry, 30 days, we've struck more than 11,000 targets. Given the increase in air superiority, we've successfully started to conduct the first overland B-52 missions, which allow us, as we've said before, to continue to get on top of the enemy and, as the Secretary talked about, switch towards more and more dynamic targets, servicing mobile targets around the battlefield. We've continued to do the work against Iran's missile, drone, and naval production facilities, and we continue the multi-domain pressure that we've talked about. Second, on the Navy front, we continue to assert dominance over the Iranian Navy. We remain focused on targeting their mine-laying capability, their naval assets, and we've now, as I mentioned briefly last time, started to work attack helicopters and other close air support assets into the naval domain. CENTCOM continues to identify and work against naval depots and storage areas, and we've taken out, again, more than 150 ships, including all Jamaran-class frigates inside their Navy. Third, we continue to prosecute our campaign against our defense industrial base at scale. This includes factories, warehouses, nuclear weapons research and development labs, and the associated infrastructure required for Iran to reconstitute its combat capability. I'd like to continue my theme of highlighting the incredible contributions of Americans to our joint force. Today I want to talk a little bit about a different front line, a line that doesn't have bunkers or guard posts but is just as critical to our nation's security, our National Assembly line. Today I want to recognize a group of Americans who live at the beginning of our nation's combat power, the Americans who actually make our weapons both inside our defense industrial base but even more broadly inside our national industrial base. In every military option, we could not and cannot do our jobs without the men and women across our country who show up every day around the clock to a factory floor, a workshop, a laboratory, who build the weapons and capabilities we need to project American combat power at the time and place of our choosing. These great Americans, and I've had a chance to spend some time with them when I was in the private sector, are the core of American combat power. They're the machinists running high-tech CNC machines cutting raw blocks of metal into incredibly precise parts. They're the assembly workers painstakingly taking a kit of parts and turning that into a complex guidance system or precision munition or a rocket motor or building a jet or submarine, or they're the quality assurance technicians who ensure that when a warfighter pulls a trigger, the weapon works every time. This can be and is tough and gritty work. It's not a quiet office and a desk with paper, and there's nothing wrong with that, but this is exactly the way this group of Americans likes it. I know this. I've seen it myself, and I remain deeply honored by that gift. It's often loud and dangerous work demanding and requires absolute focus for hours at a time with deep commitment to get it right every single time. It's hands-on work where one uncaught mistake or deviation can put an American's life at risk. A single misplaced wire, a microscopic flaw in a well-incorrectly calibrated sensor could mean the difference between mission success or mission failure. The difference is measured in the lives of our sons and daughters who we put out around the field and on the field of battle. We rely on and trust in these great Americans, and it's not just their manufacturing skill. It's their innovative minds and their entrepreneurial spirit. From those who build exquisite capabilities down to the mom-and-pop machine shops all over this great country, they live at the beginning of and the core of America's combat capability, constantly adapting, constantly improving, constantly learning. And there are examples of this throughout history and current days, to include building things like the F-117 stealth fighter, the B-2 stealth bomber, making our combat capability undetectable over the enemy, to today's B-21 and F-47. It's work like in the shipyards of the East Coast and Northeast side of the United States that go out and build America's nuclear submarines that allow us to patrol around the world at the time and place of our choosing. These innovators, these workers, these incredible Americans don't get the same glory as a fighter pilot returning to a carrier deck at night or an artillery man sending rounds down range, and yet they show up every single day. And without them, we could not do the work that we are tasked to do. 24-7, they build the tools that we need to do our business. The skill, the commitment, the patriotism, the dedication poured into every piece of combat capability and hardware is seen and felt out at the edge of the force, as the Secretary talked about those young bomb builders out in the desert that he had the chance to see. You can see it, you can feel it, and it's real, and we're deeply grateful. So to the American workforce out there, both inside our defense industrial base and in our national industrial base, thank you on behalf of the joint force. We carry the weapons that you build, we rely on the systems that you create, and the distance from that factory floor and that assembly line to the front line is incredibly short. Thank you. Keep it up. And to our adversaries out there, I remind you to beware of the American workforce. We continue to press forward in our military objectives. The Secretary and I remain deeply humbled by the spirit, tenacity, commitment, and grit of our 2.8 million-member strong joint force. I want to, as always, thank the force and their families and, as always, remember our fallen. We carry with them and their names every day. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Two things. He didn't note it, but in memory of Colonel Bud Anderson, the chairman himself, who was at this meeting to honor him. And thank you for highlighting the defense industrial base, the arsenal of freedom. It's worth noting no one has rebuilt that defense industrial base faster and with more purpose than President Trump in his first term, and now we're rebuilding the arsenal of freedom. Our defense industrial base is more vibrant today than it's been since World War II and growing rapidly. Contrast that with Iran, whose defense industrial base is nearly completely destroyed. Their ability to reconstitute the weapons of war they're using now that they're hiding in underground facilities and are trading over time, their ability to rebuild that is negligible. And I think that contrast is an enduring legacy of this country. We've had some signaling that the U.S. will retake control of the Strait of Hormuz. At that point, what military posture will be imposed to guarantee safe passage for our allies, deter our enemies, and demonstrate U.S. dominance in the region? And also, can you speak to how much America's adversaries, Russia, China, North Korea, how much they're supporting Iran's war machine at this point with arms and intelligence and what we are militarily doing to punish the enemy coalition? I appreciate both questions. On the Strait of Hormuz, there are many more vessels flowing through today than there were as the President has arranged. The President's been clear to Iran, open it for business or we have options, and we certainly do. And when you look at what the Chairman laid out with the Navy, with the Navy industrial base, with coastal cruise missiles, with UAVs, with countermine capabilities, we've been focused from the beginning on attriting and defeating those capabilities and limiting their options. There's a lot we're doing as well, some of which is known, some of which is not known, to set the condition. And I think the President was clear this morning, and it's true, that there are countries around the world who ought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well, not just the United States Navy. Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well. He's pointing out this is an international waterway that we use less than most, in fact, dramatically less than most. So the world ought to pay attention and be prepared to stand up. President Trump has been willing to do the heavy lifting on behalf of the free world to address this threat of Iran. It's not just our problem set going forward, even though we have done the lion's share of preparation to ensure that that Strait will be open, which is an outcome that the President has been very clear on. As far as Russia and China, we know exactly what they are or are not doing. We don't have to air publicly what all of that is. But where necessary, we're addressing it, we're mitigating it, and we're over-confronting it head-on. No, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. David here, Real America's Voice. And I witnessed that enthusiasm on the lines of some of these buildings, but I just wanted to ask you, what's the status of the delivery of any hardy bunkers for additional protection for troops? And without getting too specific, what kind of measures are we taking to protect some of the larger, more strategic backgrounds like the century and others? That's a great question. I'll say what I witnessed where I went was a completely locked-in discipline of bunker use and bunker improvement. So from the beginning, as we stated very clearly, the first thing we did was set up a defense to make sure our defensive capabilities were maxed out before any of this even started. That included fortification as much as possible, but it also included disbursement. If all of our people are in one place, you can imagine why that's a big problem. Disbursing is part of that defeat. Alongside that, disbursement is more and more bunkers. And I can tell you, talking to base commanders, talking to our allies in Israel, talking to others, rapidly fielding that and then improving those positions is a theater of priority, no doubt, as are the air defenses and the layered air defenses. It's not just Patriots and Thads. It's fighters and defensive caps. It's other kinetic defeat systems. It's electronic warfare. So the defense of our troops and our assets is maxed. I will say on some of those other assets we talked about, airwings, airframes, there's some things adversaries are doing to provide info and intel that they shouldn't. We're aware of it. And ultimately, we move things around and don't. One of the biggest principles you learn in the military is to not set patterns, predictable patterns. And so commanders are working hard to adjust in real time with those systems and make sure they're in the right place and not easily targeted. Thanks, Mr. Secretary. The U.S. and Iran appear right now publicly to disagree about whether there are negotiations ongoing. What impact does that have on military strategy? Does it have any bearing at all? And, General, the President wrote yesterday that the U.S. might destroy Iran's electricity-generating plants and oil wells. Those are his words before ending this operation. Is there a way to do either of those things without, like, seriously jeopardizing or seriously harming Iran? So on the talks, I can tell you, having been with Steve and Jared and the Vice President and Marco and many others yesterday, they are very real. They are ongoing. They're active and, I think, gaining strength. And we appreciate that. As I said in my remarks, we would much prefer to get a deal. If Iran was willing to relinquish material they have and ambitions they have, openness is great. That's the goal. We don't want to have to be more militarily than we have to be. But I didn't mean it flippantly when I said, in the meantime, we'll negotiate with them. Our job is to ensure that we compel Iran to realize that this new regime, this regime in charge, is in a better place if they make that deal. And so we'll continue. We're working hand-in-hand, but the primary effort is a deal. We want that deal to be accomplished, if at all possible. If not, then we're prepared to continue. Go ahead. Go ahead, Mr. Chairman. Yeah. Thanks for the question. We're always thinking about those considerations and develop options together to mitigate those restrictions and normal practices. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I know you slightly addressed this already, but just on the Strait of Hormuz, is opening the straits an essential objective to Operation Iran or is that the job of other countries? And then secondly, without asking you to comment on things that you can't talk about, what is your message to Americans who love the President and strongly believe in him but are very worried about this notion of peace on the ground? Well, first on the Strait of Hormuz, our core objectives from this podium, from day one, from me, from the Chairman, from the President, from the Vice President, from Secretary Rubio and others, have been clear. Missile production and missile programs, their entire missile program, defense industrial base, and production ability to build a Navy and power project. And then, of course, wrapping it all is Iran's never going to have a nuclear weapon. Those have been very clear. Defeating the Navy is a core part of ensuring they can't project that kind of power. But ultimately, I think the President's truth this morning lays that out very well, that this Strait of Hormuz issue, we've set the conditions for success and we will make sure Iran knows that very clearly. It's not just a United States of America problem set. We've been willing to lead. President Trump has led the entire time, but it's not just us. So ultimately, I think other countries should pay attention when the President speaks. He's proven that when he speaks, he means something. He's pointing out you might want to start learning how to fight for yourself. It's something some of us have been saying for quite some time. You can't just have flags. You have to have formation. You can't just have a few ships. You have enough to effect change. Those things matter in a dangerous world to descend an adversary. That's why the Chairman's talking about our industrial base. That's why we're launching the Arsenal of Freedom tour to revive our defense industrial base. President Trump's doing it in a way that nobody else has. As far as President Trump and boots on the ground, I don't understand why the base, which they have already, they understand wouldn't have faith in his ability to execute on this. Look at his track record of pursuing peace through strength, America first outcome. What he's simply saying is exactly true, and I've said it on this podium too. We're not going to foreclose any option. You can't fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do or what you are not willing to do. To include boots on the ground, our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we can come at them. And guess what? There are. So if we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the President of the United States and this department. Or maybe we don't have to use them at all. Maybe negotiations work, or maybe there's a different approach. The point is to be unpredictable in that. Certainly not let anybody know what you're willing to do or not do. But if anybody has internalized the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan as the first one, President Trump, to call them out for what they are, he's not going to repeat those lessons. And I think I've been very clear about that on this podium. Secretary Hicks, I have a question for you and then a question for General Kane. You said we're a month into the operation epicurean. How long until the objectives are achieved? And is there a scenario where a deal is struck before the objectives have been achieved? And then for General Kane, there's been lots of media coverage of the objectives around the page, and it's imminent. What other purposes might the soldiers and the Marines who have been deployed over in the Middle East serve in this conflict? Well, just like the previous question, it's sort of military 101. Don't tell your enemy what you're willing to do or not do. And don't tell your enemy when you're willing to stop, especially an enemy that likes to hide in bunkers and try to hoard their missiles and hope you'll reach out. So that's not a question I'm going to answer or the President has said definitively. We have our own goals and guidance and military objectives that we're moving toward and things that we look at. And as he's articulated, he said four to six weeks, six to eight weeks, three weeks. It could be any particular number, but we would never reveal precisely what it is because our goal is to finish those objectives. And we're well on our way. And the Chairman and I look at this every single day. It will be the President's determination and the President's determination alone when those objectives are complete and when it serves the interest of the American people to cut that deal, to make sure that Iran doesn't have a nuclear capability and ultimately that our objectives, our interests are kept. No, just to answer your question, Reagan, you know, the range of military options that those forces can offer are extensive, not just limited to what you mentioned in terms of forces on the ground. And I wouldn't want to take away the President's decision space, but there are a multitude of things, not the least of which is Iran should note that they're out there and that they are a pressure point. So they should carefully consider, I think, at the diplomatic level, not my job as the Chairman, but at the diplomatic level to consider what's in front of them. Jerry. Mr. Secretary, the U.S. Government and IC assess for many years that Iran is protecting al-Qaida senior leaders, including the current senior Saif al-Baghdadi. Does the U.S. assess that he's still in Iran? Is he fled to Afghanistan? Is he on a target list? And, Mr. Chairman, based on CENTCOM figures and open source, Iranian daily missile garages and drone launches have indeed dropped dramatically since the start of the war, but they're not at zero. And they seem to have maintained some level of low but stable numbers. Perhaps they've dropped a little bit more in recent days. How do we get that closer to zero? And what impact is Iran's degraded but still very real capability impacting current nuclear operations? So I won't speak to a particular target. I'll just say that al-Qaida remains our enemy, obviously. And there are a lot of people on our target list in Iran. And if they were to be harboring al-Qaida, they would certainly hit them. Just quickly, you know, the mobile targets that they have that we continue to service, as the Secretary talked about the 200 hits that were done last night, that's one component of continuing to lower that. The second and more long-term impact that we're having is the strikes against their defense industrial base at scale, which will not allow them to reload after that. So we do continue to see a trend down. They are still shooting, and we do continue to exert significant pressure against both sides of that system. Mr. Secretary, thank you for the question. Do you still believe, the Secretary said that the Iranian leadership will surrender. Do you still believe that? And is the United States still committed to NATO's collective defense? Are you thinking about the legality of striking desalinization plants if the President were to order that? I would just say that any mission that ends on our terms, whether you want to call it a surrender, call it a defeat, call it what you want, we remain committed to it. A conflict that ends on our terms and the President's terms, there's no doubt about that. And as far as NATO's concerned, that's a decision that will be left to the President. But I will say a lot has been laid bare. A lot has been shown to the world about what our allies would be willing to do for the United States of America when we undertake an effort of this scope on behalf of the free world. These are missiles that don't even range the United States of America. They range allies and others. And yet when we ask for additional assistance or simple access-basing and overflight, we get questions or roadblocks or hesitation. And the President's pointing out, you don't have much of an alliance if you have countries that are not willing to stand with you and you need them. He's simply pointing that out, and ultimately it would be his decision what that looks like. I'll just – I won't talk about any particular target. This really builds on Gillian's question, too, that I don't think I completely answered. But, you know, the joint force is the most professional force in the world, and we have numerous processes and systems to carefully consider the whole range of considerations from civilian risk to legal considerations with any target. And as targets come before us, we run them through the same process that we always do and always strike lawful targets in accordance with the normal procedures. MS. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you. I appreciate it. On Sunday, President Trump said that Iran's first regime was all destroyed and the second one is mostly dead. The third regime that we're on right now has been much more reasonable in negotiation. I would defer to the negotiating team there. They're the ones talking to him, but they're getting a back-and-forth on terms, which is a productive development. We stand right there next to our negotiating team, always willing and prepared to work with them. Thank you very much. Thank you.