By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and DAVID KLEPPER
WASHINGTON (AP) — Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged Wednesday that some Iranian air assaults should hit their targets whilst he asserted that U.S. army superiority is rapidly giving it management of the Islamic Republic’s airspace.
The U.S. has spared “no expense or functionality” to boost air protection programs to guard American forces and allies within the Center East, Hegseth instructed reporters on the Pentagon days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in a conflict that has widened all through the area.
“This doesn’t imply we will cease every thing, however we ensured that the utmost attainable protection and most attainable drive safety was arrange earlier than we went on offense,” he stated.
The acknowledgement that extra drone or missile strikes within the area may trigger harm and hurt to troops comes as President Donald Trump and high protection leaders have warned that extra American casualties have been anticipated in a battle that would final months.
U.S. service members “stay in hurt’s approach, and we should be clear-eyed that the chance continues to be excessive,” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, stated on the similar press convention.
Six troopers have been killed when an Iranian drone strike hit an operations middle Sunday within the coronary heart of a civilian port in Kuwait, miles away from the principle Military base. The husband of one of many slain troopers, who was a part of a provide and logistics unit primarily based in Iowa, says the middle was a transport container-style constructing and had no defenses.
Hegseth additionally signaled a attainable longer timeframe for the battle than has beforehand been floated by the Trump administration, saying it may final eight weeks however that the U.S. has the munitions and the gear to beat Iran in a conflict of attrition. He declined to set a selected time vary, saying the particular length of the conflict would depend upon the way it unfolds.
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees Gen. Dan Caine take questions throughout a press briefing on the Pentagon, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein)
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Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees Gen. Dan Caine take questions throughout a press briefing on the Pentagon, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein)
“You’ll be able to say 4 weeks, but it surely might be six, it might be eight, it might be three,” he stated. “In the end, we set the tempo and the tempo. The enemy is off stability, and we’re going to maintain them off stability.”
Extra forces proceed to reach within the area, together with jet fighters and bombers, Hegseth stated, and the U.S. “will take on a regular basis we have to guarantee that we succeed.”
Tehran has vowed to fully destroy the Center East’s army and financial infrastructure — signaling the conflict was nowhere close to over and will increase additional.
President Donald Trump stated this week the marketing campaign are prone to final 4 to 5 weeks however that he was ready “to go far longer than that.”
Related Press writers Ben Finley and Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.
