Iran launched fewer missiles and drones in the past day than in any previous 24-hour period since the U. S. and Israel started their war,Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday during a press briefing at the Pentagon. But the secretary declined to quantify progress toward the administration’s objectives or answer whether thousands of soldiers and Marine positioned in the Middle East are a precursor to a ground invasion.
Hegseth fell back on a common refrain of his public remarks since the U.S. began striking targets in Iran a month ago: that he isn’t willing to share how far the U.S. is willing to go to press Iran into a peace deal.
“We have our own goals and guidance, and…military objectives that we're moving toward, and things that we look at,” the secretary said. “And as [the president has] articulated, you know, he said, four to six weeks, six to eight weeks, three—it could be any 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.”
Asked what other purpose there could be for staging 82nd Airborne Division soldiers and an amphibious ready group with embarked Marines in the Middle East other than a ground incursion, Hegseth refused to answer.
“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…wait you out,” he said. “So that's not a question I'm going to answer.”
He gave a similar answer when asked what his message is to Trump supporters who are concerned about a ground operation.
“I don't understand why the base…wouldn't have faith in his ability to execute on this. Look at his track record of pursuing ‘peace through strength, America First outcomes’,” Hegseth said. “What he's simply saying, and it's exactly true—and I've said from 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.”
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hinted that their presence could be a form of intimidation.
“Iran should note that they’re out there and they are a pressure point,” Caine said.
In Hegseth’s opening remarks, he recounted a brief trip to the U.S. Central Command area of operations over the weekend, where he met with troops supporting Operation Epic Fury. He contended that the troops wanted to continue the war.
He said none of them asked for better equipment, better living conditions or to go home, but for “even more bombs, bigger bombs, more targets,” he said.
“These troops, they want to finish this fight for their kids and their grandkids,” he said. “This is about history. This is about legacy.”
The Trump administration’s most pressing goal has been reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, with the president posting on social media in recent days that he would order strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island power plants if they didn’t stop shooting at ships.
“But if Iran is wise, they will cut a deal,” Hegseth said. “President Trump doesn't bluff and he does not back down”—a notion belied by his record.
Though Trump said March 11 that there was “practically nothing left” to target in Iran, Caine said in his operational update that the U.S. had begun its first overland B-52 bombing strikes, while continuing to strike Iran’s defense industrial base.
“This includes factories, warehouses, nuclear weapons research and development labs, and the associated infrastructure required for Iran to reconstitute its combat capability,” he said.
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