SECURITY: Hegseth/Caine Claim US Is Close To Total Control Of Iranian Airspace

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are speaking at a press conference at the Pentagon. LIVESTREAM Comments are consistent with what appears to be a considered public pivot from the Trump administration to narrow the scope of the campaign to focus entirely on military goals, rather than regime change or other potential political outcomes.

• Hegseth says, “America is winning.” He says the US has “only just begun” its campaign against Iranian military targets. He says the Iranian air force “is no more” and their navy “rests at the bottom of the Gulf.”
• He says the US and Israel will soon have “total control” over Iranian airspace. With this achieved, Hegseth says the US will employ heavy bombing raids. He adds that the US can sustain this period of the campaign for “as long as needed.”
• Hegseth stresses that the operation has not included the “nation-building” of the 2003 Iraq War. Hegseth later adds that the “only limits” are President Donald Trump's “desire to achieve specific effects.”
• Caine says the operation was launched with “clear military objectives” to prevent Iran from projecting power beyond its border via its ballistic missile programme and with an aim of degrading its military to such an extent that it cannot be reconstituted in the future.
• Caine says Iranian ballistic missile firings are down 86% from the first day, and attack drone shots are down 73%. He says that the US will strike “deeper into Iranian territory” as it gains more air superiority.
• Caine echoes Trump's Oval Office comments yesterday in saying that the US has sufficient munitions to continue operations but declines to provide details. He says over the next 24-48 hours, the US will continue to strike infrastructure and Iranian naval capabilities.