Friday’s strikes on Iran will exceed Tuesday’s, which were at that point in Operation Epic Fury, “the most intense day of strikes” thus far.
“Today will be, yet again, the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Friday morning.
Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine provided a number of updates Friday on the military’s progress in Iran at the week’s second Pentagon press briefing.
Iran’s missile volume is down 90% and its one-way attack drones are down 95%, and soon, “all of Iran’s defense companies will be destroyed,” according to Hegseth.
“As of two days ago,” the secretary said, “every company that builds every component of [Iran’s ballistic] missiles has been functionally defeated, destroyed.”
He also confirmed that the newly selected Supreme Leader of Iran, the former ayatollah’s son, is wounded and “likely disfigured.”
Mojtaba Khameini put out a written statement Thursday calling for unity, according to Hegseth, rather than issuing a recording of any kind.
“Iran has plenty of cameras and voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why – his father’s dead, he’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy,” Hegseth said.
The administration has repeatedly said the military objectives of Operation Epic Fury are to destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles, its navy and its military industrial base, eliminate its nuclear capacity and render its terrorist proxies in the region impotent.
Hegseth and Caine have continually given updates on the country’s ballistic missiles, drones and navy, but they have been less vocal about progress toward eliminating its nuclear capacity. A journalist asked them Friday about some reported stores of highly enriched uranium and other material. Hegseth said American forces “have options” regarding these substances that he can’t now disclose.
“We retain options across the spectrum to ensure that they never do” have a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth said. “I would never tell this group or the world what we’re willing to do or how far we’re willing to go, but we have options for sure.”
The U.S. has been scrutinized for a bombing of an Iranian girls’ school, which preliminary reports have indicated was intentional (the incident is still under investigation) and for its tactics concerning the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait is a critical passageway for more than 20% of the world’s oil, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
So far, at least 11 U.S. service members have died since the start of the operation. Many more have been injured, but many of those have already returned to duty, according to Caine.
