War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that U.S. forces have effectively dismantled Iran’s naval capabilities, claiming the country’s surface fleet is “no longer a factor” after weeks of sustained strikes.
“To borrow a page from Admiral Ernest King in World War II, we’ve decided to share the ocean with Iran,” Hegseth said during a Pentagon briefing on Operation Epic Fury. “We’ve given them the bottom half.”
According to Hegseth, U.S. forces have damaged or sunk more than 120 Iranian naval vessels, with additional damage assessments still underway. He also said that all 11 of Iran’s submarines had been destroyed.
The briefing comes as the Pentagon prepares for what Hegseth described as the “largest strike package yet,” expected to hit targets across Iran on Thursday.
“To date, we’ve struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure. That is not incremental,” Hegseth said. “That is overwhelming force applied with precision, and again, today will be the largest strike package yet, just like yesterday was.”
Hegseth added that Iranian ballistic missile attacks against U.S. forces had dropped by 90% since the operation began on February 28.
He also pointed to recent strikes targeting senior Iranian officials, including intelligence chief Esmaeil Khatib and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary unit under Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“The last job anyone in the world wants right now?” Hegseth said. “Senior leader for the IRGC or Basij — temporary.”
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine said U.S. operations are continuing “to attack deeper into Iranian territory” and farther East into Iranian airspace.
“As reported by U.S. Central Command yesterday, the U.S. military dropped 5,000 pound penetrator weapons into underground storage facilities, storing coastal defense, cruise missiles, and other support equipment,” Caine said.
When asked how long the operation would continue, Hegseth declined to provide a timeline.
“We wouldn’t want to set a definitive time frame on that, but as we’ve said, we’re on plan. So we’re looking at those metrics very closely, relaying that to the president and the national security team,” Hegseth said.
The briefing came after President Donald Trump issued a warning to Iran after it attacked a natural gas facility in Qatar.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said Israel would halt further strikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field unless Iran attacks Qatari energy infrastructure. He added that if Iran does escalate, the United States would respond with overwhelming force.
“NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar — In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before,” Trump said.
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