The Department of War has released the first images and videos of U.S. military actions against Iran as the campaign against the regime extends into its third day. Operation Epic Fury has so far claimed the lives of four U.S. military personnel and wounded more than a dozen others.
Early on Monday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared that the primary focus of the U.S. military operation in Iran is the use of lasers.
“Destroy Iranian missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their navy and other security infrastructure and they will never have nuclear weapons,” said Hesgeth, who was joined by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
Hegseth declined to give a timeframe for the operation, but he insisted it would not be “endless.”
“This is not Iraq,” Hegseth said. “This is not endless. I was there for both — our generation knows better, and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation-building wars dumb and he’s right. This is the opposite. This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission: Destroy the missile threat, destroy the navy, no nukes.”
Hegseth said there are no U.S. military “boots on the ground” in Iran right now, but said he would not “go into the exercise of what we will or will not do” in the future.
Caine said it will “take some time for us to conduct a battle damage assessment, and the targeting that CENTCOM will run will take those things into effect.”
At least 11 people have been killed in Israel. The Iranian Red Crescent says 555 people have been killed in Iran.
Caine said it will “take some time for us to conduct a battle damage assessment, and the targeting that CENTCOM will run will take those things into effect.”
Hegseth on Monday accused Iran of having started the war, saying Iran’s “stubborn and self-evident nuclear pursuit” as well as “targeting global shipping lines.”
“Iran had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear bomb,” Hegseth said to a room full of reporters on Monday morning with an important update.
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Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a gaggle of reporters on Saturday, following U.S. and Israel strikes on Iran, that “the old world” he grew up in “is gone,” while urging American allies to realize that and help Washington forge a new path forward for the West.
“The world is changing very fast right in front of us,” Rubio said. “The old world is gone, frankly, the world I grew up in, and we live in a new era of geopolitics, and it’s gonna require all of us to sort of reexamine what that looks like and what our role is going to be.”
He added, “We’ve had many of these conversations in private with many of our allies. We need to continue to have those conversations.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Saturday that Rubio notified senior congressional leaders ahead of the joint U.S. Israeli military operation against Iran.
Leavitt’s statement, posted to X, came as critics questioned whether President Donald Trump authorized the strikes without the required approval from Congress.
“President Trump monitored the situation overnight at Mar a Lago alongside members of his national security team. The President spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu by phone,” Leavitt wrote.
“Prior to the attacks, Secretary Rubio called all members of the gang of eight to provide congressional notification, and he was able to reach and brief seven of the eight members,” she added.
“The President and his national security team will continue to closely monitor the situation throughout the day.”
Leavitt did not indicate whether Trump would return to Washington or remain at his Florida residence.
The so-called “Gang of Eight” includes the Senate and House majority and minority leaders, as well as the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Under the 1947 National Security Act, Congress must be kept “fully informed” of significant intelligence activities.
However, according to the Harvard Kennedy School, presidents from both parties have interpreted that language to mean that notifying the “Gang of Eight” satisfies the requirement rather than briefing the full intelligence committees.
