Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine confirmed that the U.S. will redirect more military forces to the Middle East as the operation against Iran continues.
“This deployment included thousands of service members from all branches, hundreds of advanced fourth and fifth-generation fighters, dozens of refueling tankers, the Lincoln and Ford carrier strike group and their embarked air wings, sustained flow of munitions, fuel supplies, all supported with command and control intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance network,” explained Caine.
The U.S. continues to add forces.
“And the flow of forces continues today,” continued Caine. “In fact, [Central Command Chief] Admiral [Brad] Cooper will receive additional forces, even today.”
Caine emphasized that the operation will take time, without giving a timeframe when it should end:
First, to be clear, as the Secretary [Hegseth] said, this is not a single overnight operation. The military objectives that CENTCOM and the Joint Force have been tasked with will take some time to achieve, and in some cases, will be difficult and gritty work. We expect to take additional losses, and as always, we will work to minimize those losses. But, as the Secretary said, this is major combat operations.
America has already lost four service members during Iran’s initial counterattack.
Caine said the operation included all of the armed forces, attacking every part of Iran’s system:
On February 28, the full strength of America’s armed forces came together in a unified purpose against a capable and determined adversary. The United States, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and our reserve components integrated across our combatant commands and began coordinated operations with the Israeli armed forces of an unprecedented scale. As the Secretary laid out, our military objectives are clear. Our mission is to protect and defend ourselves, and together with our regional partners, prevent Iran from the ability to project power outside of its borders, and be ready for follow on actions as appropriate. Across every domain, land, air, sea, cyber, the US Joint Force, delivered synchronized and layered effects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny, and destroy Iran’s ability to conduct and sustain combat operations on the US side. This marked the culmination of months, and in some cases, years, of deliberate planning and refinement against this particular target set, from precision strikes against key military infrastructure to persistent intelligence and targeting integration to the close coordination of the components across vast distances.This operation again demonstrated America’s reach, readiness, and professionalism, and that of our joint united forces. It was historic, not only in the operational scope, but in the level of joint integration displayed across every element of the joint forces.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY