Hegseth: Today Will be ‘Our Most Intense Day of Strikes Inside Iran’
CENTCOM already said that the military has struck 5,000 targets and damaged or destroyed over 50 ships.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine held a press conference this morning with a few updates on Operation Epic Fury.
“On day ten of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives, which are the same as the day I gave my first briefing here on Operation Epic Fury,” said Hegseth. “They’re straightforward, and we are executing them with ruthless precision.”
Hegseth also reiterated the objectives: “One, destroy their missile stockpiles, their missile launchers, and their defense industrial base missiles and their ability to make them. Two, destroy their Navy, and three, permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons forever.”
Tuesday will be another bad day for Iran:
It’s a laser-focused, maximum authority mission, delivered with overwhelming and unrelenting precision. No hesitation, no half measures. As President Trump declared yesterday, we’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force. We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated. But we do so — we do so on our timeline and at our choosing. For example, today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.
The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever, so that’s on one hand. On the other hand, the last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest number of missiles they’ve been capable of firing. Yet just the bifurcation, just the trend lines that we talked about on our first briefing. You see, this is not 2003. This is not endless nation-building under those types of quagmires we saw under Bush or Obama. It’s not even close. Our generation of soldier[ [sic] will not let that happen again. And nor will this President, who very clearly ran against those kinds of never-ending, nebulously-scoped missions. Those days are dead. Instead, we’re winning decisively with brutal efficiency, total air dominance, and an unbreakable will to accomplish the President’s objectives on our timeline. We stay locked on the target because here at the Department of War, that’s our job.
.@SecWar Hegseth: "On day ten of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives, which are the same as the day I gave my first briefing here on Operation Epic Fury. They're straightforward, and we are executing them with ruthless… pic.twitter.com/H5QMhpdLwC
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 10, 2026
CENTCOM already said that the military has struck 5,000 targets and damaged or destroyed over 50 ships.
Caine backed up CENTCOM claims:
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine: “To date, [U.S. forces have] struck more than 5000 targets. U.S. Strategic Command bombers recently dropped dozens of 2,000-pound, GPS-penetrating weapons on deeply buried missile launchers across the southern flank. We also have struck several one-way drone factories to get at the heart of their autonomous capability. And, of course, alongside our regional partners along the southern flank, continue to execute intercepts against one-way attack drones using fighters and — and attack helicopters. Our strikes mean we’ve made significant progress in reducing the number of missile and drone attacks out of Iran. Ballistic missile attacks continue to trend downward, 90% from where they’ve started, and one-way attack drones have decreased 83% since the beginning of the operation, a testament to our air defenders and our air defense systems. And as I said, our partners in the region continue to do great work as well.”
“Second, we’re making substantial progress towards destroying the Navy. In the first ten days of the conflict, we’re more than 50 Iranian naval ships into the campaign using a combination of artillery, fighters, bombers, and sea-launched missiles. As Admiral Cooper noted last Thursday, we struck and sank an Iranian drone carrier ship. And U.S. Centcom continues today to hunt and strike mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities. This — this work will continue.”
“We’ve begun to target Iran’s military and industrial complex again, focusing on centers of gravity to get upstream of the shooters out in the field, in order to deny them the ability to continue to generate those — those one-way attack drones,” added Caine.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine: "To date, [U.S. forces have] struck more than 5000 targets. U.S. Strategic Command bombers recently dropped dozens of 2,000-pound, GPS-penetrating weapons on deeply buried missile launchers across the southern flank. We also have struck… pic.twitter.com/QOFTF4GLSo
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 10, 2026
The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan asked about the rumors that new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei sustained injuries in an attack.
Hegseth said he cannot comment on Khamenei right now.
Hegseth confirmed that President Donald Trump told Putin that Russia should not be involved in the Iran war.
The New York Times’ Eric Schmitt asked a decent question:
NYT’s Eric Schmitt: “First, last week you talked about this being the beginnings of an air campaign that could last 3 to 8 weeks. Can you give us your assessment on where we are now? And, Mr. Chairman, in any conflict, the enemy or the adversary adapts to the tactics it faces. Can you talk about the most challenging adaptation the Iranian military has made to the U.S. military? What challenges are you facing most right now? Thank you.”
@SecWar: “I appreciate the question. Where we are is in a very strong place, giving the President of the United States maximum options, and from the beginning, from this podium, we haven’t stated how long it will take. Our will is endless. Ultimately, the President gets to determine the end state of those objectives, right? But — but what he’s said continually, I want the American people to understand is this is not endless. It’s not protracted. We’re not allowing mission creep. The President has said a very specific mission to accomplish, and our job is to unrelentingly deliver that. Now he gets to control the throttle. He’s the one deciding — he’s the one elected on behalf of the American people when we’re achieving those objectives. And so, it’s not for me to posit whether it’s the beginning, the middle, or the end. That’s his. And he’ll continue to communicate tha. What we — what we serve him as — is we give him updates on a daily basis of exactly where we are, so he can make that determination on the throttle. Mr. Chairman.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Caine: “Thank you for the question on adaptation. As you’re right, no plan survives first contact with the enemy or Murphy. They’re adapting, as are we, of course. We have very entrepreneurial warfighters out there. I’d rather not for operational security reasons. Tell them what’s working. So I’ll — I’m not going to non-answer that question based on that. But we are watching what they’re doing and we are adapting faster than they are.”
Schmitt: “Are they more formidable than you anticipated, general?”
Caine: “I mean, I think they’re fighting, and I respect that, but I don’t think they’re more formidable than what we thought.”
NYT's Eric Schmitt: "First, last week you talked about this being the beginnings of an air campaign that could last 3 to 8 weeks. Can you give us your assessment on where we are now? And, Mr. Chairman, in any conflict, the enemy or the adversary adapts to the tactics it faces.… pic.twitter.com/F4cTSDmlO3
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 10, 2026
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Comments
“Brutal efficiency”. is what it takes and the US militaryhas perfected that. Carry on and get it done.
touching on what jack said below, There will need to be a destruction of the IRGC to achieve any real goal of creating a democratic Iran.
It’s amazing what a military can accomplish when it aligns with its core mission (killing the enemy & breaking things) instead of silly distractions (men pretending to be women).
It’s no wonder the left hates Donald Trump and everyone around him with the heat of a thousand suns. Everything the left believes in is a lie, and Trump turns those lies against them.
just make sure you are not blowing sand up
Once Again: No “LIKE” button… 🙂
The two remaining goals of the conflict should be to remove the 400 kgs. of enriches uranium from Iran, and to destroy the effectiveness of the IRGC. Alas, I think neither will be achieved.
The Israel’s should remove the uranium. It would be poetic justice.
Because? It’s been barely a week.
Because the uranium is deep underground with only one usable entrance and it weighs 880 pounds, and with lead lining shielding it probably a ton. That would require a lot of people doing some heavy lifting. And because the IRGC is about 900 thousand strong, a.nd thus too large to neutralize absent a full scale invasion.
I’m guessing the reliable elements of the IRGC are probably less than that, at this point. But it’s early in the process, despite what some people think.
Will the happy talk continue if oil goes to $300?
Hopefully school’s out!
Waiting for stupid post by TurkeyButt…..
1–2–3 Didn’t have to wait long.
Did your grand daughter write that comment for you?
At least her school wasn’t blasted to dust. You don’t have to think about things like that as long as it’s other kids
1. There is literally no indication that the school was struck by a Tomahawk. All claims that it was are pure enemy propaganda, which it is tantamount to treason to propagate. In all likelihood it was struck by an enemy missile.
2. Even if it does turn out to have been our missile, so what? How are these kids worth any more than the German and Japanese kids in facilities that we struck in the Mother of All Just Wars?
What was a school doing right next door to a military base? Putting it there was a war crime by the enemy, and according to the laws of war any deaths that resulted are their responsibility, not ours. There is absolutely no duty to refrain from firing on a legitimate target just because the enemy has parked civilians next to it or in it. None at all. Israel is suicidally stupid to do so, but we should not copy its stupidity. It is not morally superior to put enemy lives ahead of achieving our military goals. Let alone to put enemy lives ahead of those of our own servicemen.
See this is why people here think you’re a moron. You’ve been bleating about this for days, pretending the US bombed a school.
What makes more sense, that the US or Israel targeted a school? Or that the 5th century savages that throw acid in the face of girls that go to school did?
If you want to say it accidentally happened, what makes more sense? The side that can guide a remote down your chimney, turn it up your stairs once inside and drive it straight into you hiding in the bathroom somehow missed and hit a school or…the side that accidentally attacked their own tanker did? Remember these are the people who one wheeled out an F-14 on the back of a tractor trailer and tried to launch the missiles attached to it.
Don’t try and hit SeeMore A$$crack with logic, it will only confuse him.
He’s only here to emote and squee.
I’m struck by how thoroughly militarized Iran really is.
I thought it was more of a tin-pot theocratic-authoritarian state funding large networks of violent zealots throughout the middle east and the west – modeled on Stalin’s comintern – with front groups etc. It’s domestic secret police and prison network differ little from 20th century totalitarian states. None of that comes as a surprise.
Iran’s navy is/was far larger than I imagined. Its industrial missile and drone programs also far larger than imagined.
I’m astonished by how deeply Israel has scouted everything – dozens of videos recorded by Iranian civilians showing township police stations getting zapped, same for regional IRGC compounds, cottage industry buildings etc., etc.
the military should alwaysss be the biggest expenditure ,, despite the lefts hysteria
but that hysteria is only when its the good people who want to be prepared
They have multiple armies and probably multiple navies too. State level forces and independent IRGC forces.
What they don’t have is a viable air force and that’s crazy considering what’s arrayed against them. Then again only China and Russia are willing to sell them planes and Russia has been a foe almost as much as it’s been an ally. They have newer planes on order from Russia but those won’t stand up to a F-35. It also takes something like 6-9 months to fully train a pilot on a new aircraft or so I’ve heard. I don’t think China has sold them much of anything yet.