Hegseth: Operation Epic Fury 'just the beginning' of U.S. action in Iran

“This is not a single overnight operation,” Caine said. “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.”

Hegseth gave no timeframe for how long American military action will continue in Iran, adding that while no American troops are currently on the ground, “we are not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.”

“We’ll go as far as we need to go to advance American interests. But we’re not dumb about it – you don’t have to roll 200,000 people in there and stay for 20 years,” Hegseth said. “We’ve proven that we can achieve objectives that advance American interests without being foolish about it.”

He also defended the controversial strikes, which key members of Congress received advance notice of but did not vote to authorize.  

Iran’s “nuclear ambitions,” Hegseth argued, “had to be addressed” because “Iran has the ability to project power against us and our allies in ways that we can’t tolerate” even without nuclear weapons.

“They were building up this conventional arsenal in order to ensure that no one would ever block them from their ability to get nuclear weapons,” Hegseth said. “So we’re very clear-eyed about the nature of this Iranian threat […] radical Islamists can’t have a nuclear bomb that they wield against the world.”

He added that American casualties, including the three U.S. service members killed in action by Iranian counterstrikes, “only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we do this properly.”

“We fight to win,” Hegseth said. “We fight to achieve the objectives the President of the United States has laid out, and we will do so unapologetically.”