Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Admiral Brad Cooper, Commander of U.S. Central Command, Hold a Press Briefing at Central Command Headquarters on U.S. Military Operations in the Middle East

March 5, 2026

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Well, good afternoon. I'm — I'm honored to stand right here today alongside one of America's finest, Admiral Brad Cooper, Commander of U.S. Central Command. We just had a chance to spend a couple of hours together, better part of two hours, going through the entirety of this — this operation, Operation Epic Fury.

And Admiral, I want to thank you for everything you do and your incredible leadership, for your dynamic thinking, the way you're attacking this problem set on every level. In just days of Operation Epic Fury, you and your team have delivered nothing short of devastating, precise strikes, taking out the better part of Iran's Navy, making it combat ineffective, neutralizing missile sites and launchers, and establishing total dominance over the skies we flyover and seas we fly over.

Our forces are executing with unmatched skill, and the mission is advancing decisively. This is the kind of no-nonsense, results-driven warfighting that America demands, and you're delivering it in spades. You are the man for this moment.

Admiral Cooper, on behalf of the President, the Department of War, and every American watching, I want to thank you for your outstanding job you and CENTCOM are doing. Keep pressing the fight, and we are with you all of the way.

A few thoughts before I hand it over to the Admiral for an update. Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation for the IRGC in Iran. You see, there is no shortage of American will here.

We remember and honor our fallen, those six that we will soon welcome at Dover who gave everything for their country and this mission. We remember them. But we remember them by rededicating ourselves even more fervently to this mission. Our commitment to our mission objectives only increases as our advantages continue to increase. We've got no shortage of munitions. Our stockpiles of defensive and offensive weapons allow us to sustain this campaign as long as we need to. Again, our munitions status only increases as our advantage increases.

Our capabilities? We have only just begun to fight and fight decisively. Having a chance to hear from Admiral Cooper, if you think you've seen something, just wait. The amount of combat power that's still flowing, that's still coming, that we'll be able to project over Iran is of multiples of what it currently is right now, when you add up our capabilities and those of the Israeli Defense Forces.

And we have no shortage of authorities. The Admiral knows we have clear objectives with maximum authorities on the battlefield. The dumb, politically correct wars of the past were the opposite of what we're doing here. They had vague objectives with restrictive, minimalist rules of engagement. No more.

Our authorities, his authorities, CENTCOM's authorities through the President and myself are maxed out. Our capabilities are overwhelming and gathering still, as are those of our Israeli partners. Our munitions are full up. And our will is ironclad, which means our timeline is ours and ours alone to control, as long as it takes to ensure the United States of America achieves these objectives.

And as we flow more forces and as we flow more capabilities and as our munitions as we're flying over the top, have even more devastating effects, we set the tempo, we set the timeline, led by the commander on the ground. Our ear is to the ground to listen to Admiral Cooper, what he needs, and what he needs, he will get.

We are built for this fight, and we are in it to win it. And we have the right commander in the lead.

So, I'll now hand it over to Admiral Brad Cooper to give you an update right here from CENTCOM. Admiral.

ADMIRAL COOPER: Mr. Secretary, first, thank you very much. And good afternoon and welcome to U.S. Central Command headquarters, America's warfighting headquarters. It's great to be here alongside the Secretary and representing the more than 50,000 men and women in uniform currently executing Operation Epic Fury.

So, Mr. Secretary, first, thank you very much for your leadership and support in the very clear vision and the objectives that you have given us to allow us to use overwhelming force against the Iranian terrorist regime. And thanks to all of you for attending today, and welcome to Tampa.

We are now starting our sixth day of a historic mission to eliminate Iran's ability to threaten Americans. We are — if I could channel my inner Navy officer, we are at full speed ahead in executing orders given by leadership in Washington. The President and Secretary Hegseth have been crystal clear in their expectations, and we are at a high level of execution.

As described by the Secretary and earlier this week by me, U.S. combat power is building as Iranian combat power declines. Our air dominance allows us to hit Iran's center of gravity with overwhelming power and reach.

A couple of examples. In just the last 72 hours, America's bomber force has struck nearly 200 targets deep inside of Iran, including around Tehran. And in just the last hour, U.S. B-2 bombers dropped dozens of 2,000-pound penetrator bombs targeting deeply buried ballistic missile launchers. Notably, we have also struck Iran's equivalent of Space Command, which degrades their ability to threaten Americans.

Then, if I just look back over the last 24 hours of the operation compared to where we were at the start, ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90 percent since day one, drone attacks have decreased by 83 percent since day one. Having said this, we remain vigilant.

Our strikes against the Iranian Navy have intensified. You may have heard the President say just a little while ago that we have sunk or destroyed 24 ships. That was true at the moment. We're now up over 30 ships. And in just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier, and as we speak, it's on fire.

The President gave us another task, to raze or level Iran's ballistic missile industrial base. So, we're not just hitting what they have, we're destroying their ability to rebuild. And so, as we transition to the next phase of this operation, we will systemically dismantle Iran's missile production capability for the future, and that's absolutely in progress. This is going to take some time, but our forces are well supplied, as the Secretary said, and we are absolutely ready to prosecute this mission decisively.

Our combined Joint Forces have relentlessly destroyed Iran's air defenses over the past few days and they've continued hunting for more systems to kill. Our air defenders are operating at the very top of their game. I couldn't be prouder shoulder-to-shoulder with our partners in the region, in many cases, providing the most integrated air defense network in Middle East history.

We are fighting to win. Through combined U.S. and Israeli combat power, we will continue decimating Iran's ability to project power outside its borders.

And if I can just conclude by saying, a strong salute to the brave men and women who are out on the pointy edge of this, really doing exceptional work. I just couldn't be prouder. And I know the American people share in that same pride.

So, thank you very much.

SECRETARY HEGSETH: And with that we'll take a few questions. Yes. Right here.

QUESTION: Admiral, I wanted to ask Mr. Secretary the Ukrainian president said today that the U.S. has asked for specific capabilities to deal with drones, Iranian drones. Can you guys talk about what you asked for? And has there been any surprises, any surprises from Iranian capabilities that you guys have seen in the past six days?

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Go ahead.

ADMIRAL COOPER: We're very familiar with Iranians capabilities. And as you might imagine, we plan for it right from the outset. And I feel good about what the plan was. Like any good organization, we adjust as necessary, to meet the environment, and we've made those appropriate adjustments.

QUESTION: Thank you, Secretary. I had two for both of you. One, was an American pilot shot down today in Iraq? And two I've heard reports that there's enriched uranium stored in Isfahan. I've also heard reports that there's not a lot of bombing there. Is that on purpose? Do we believe there's enrich uranium there? And would we ever send special forces to secure it?

SECRETARY HEGSETH: As CENTCOM pointed out, that those reports of an F-15 being shot down are false. As you can imagine, Iran is doing everything it can to peddle and lies, deception, and inflation of numbers in reality, mostly to propagandize to their own people, right, they don't they've shut down the internet. They're hoping they can convince their own population that they're having success. One thing, one of their leaders said recently, is that 500 Americans have been killed, they claim. These are lies. The lies will continue. CENTCOM will continue to debunk those lies. So and as often is the case in conflict, first reports are often wrong.

As it pertains to nuclear material, and things like that. One of the objectives the President has always said, is that Iran will not have a nuclear bomb, nuclear capabilities but we would never disclose what we will or will not do inside an operational plan. So, Admiral Cooper's, got a plan. We're working that plan. And targets will be struck or not struck, according to what we want to achieve. 

Yes. Right there.

QUESTION: Secretary Hegseth, the President said earlier today in an Interview that, he would like to have a say in who's the next leader of Iran. Is this an expansion of your military objective, do you view it that way? And additionally, you spoke earlier today about how previous leaders have drawn resources from our hemisphere to the Middle East. How do you avoid that?

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Well, there's no expansion. Ultimately, I think the President's having a heck of a say, in who runs Iran, given the ongoing operation we have So, there's no expansion in our objectives. We know exactly what we're trying to achieve. I think today is a great example of what this War Department is capable of doing. I was just in another part of Florida today, where we announced you know, America's Counter Cartel Conference, 18 countries coming together from Central, South America, and the Caribbean, coming together to fight cartels. That is something that is ongoing. We're focused there. We're focused in the Indo-Pacific. We can mass combat power in CENTCOM, EUCOM is able to support that as well. So, we know we're laser focused on our hemisphere and our homeland. That's why, we locked down the border. That's why we're working with partners to take on cartels. That's why we're sinking drug boats. That's why we're on the offense there.

But the beautiful things about Combatant Commands, is that you know, Brad Cooper's laser focused on Central Command, just like Frank Donovan, is laser focused on Southern Command. We can do both. That's what a Global Power can do. Ultimately this issue of Iran's nuclear pursuit, and their unwillingness through negotiations to stop it was something President Trump has said for a long time, needs to be dealt with. And after 47 years, he's doing something that no other president was willing to do. And we're doing it overwhelmingly. And we're doing it decisively, while also in other parts of the globe, having the desired effect. Take for example, what we displayed yesterday, the Iranian ship in the Indian Ocean, sunk by INDOPACOM, another Combatant Command, who coordinated with us, in order to make that happen.  So, America's reach is global. Our focus here though, those missions — these missions are narrow, they're scoped. And Admiral Cooper, is well on his way to ensuring that we reach those objectives.

Right here. Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Howard Altman, condolences on the troops killed. Do the Ukrainians are talking about providing low-cost interceptors given their experience. Is that something that the Pentagon is looking for, and Admiral Cooper, can you walk us through a little bit about how effective the LUCAS drones have been, what kind of targets they've hit, and how much that's helped given that their low-cost alternative to the more expensive (inaudible).

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Go ahead.

ADMIRAL COOPER: Sure. I'm not familiar with the particular offer. But interceptors in general, we've had a number of new capabilities being fielded. Obviously, I'm not going to talk about it from an operational perspective of what those are. But I think you have seen over a period of time, us kind of get on the other side of this cost curve, on drones in general. If I just walk back a couple of years, do you remember what you used to always hear, we're shooting down a fifty-thousand-dollar drone with a two-million-dollar missile. These days we're spending a lot of time shooting down hundred thousand dollar drones with ten thousand dollars weapons. So that's one aspect of it. LUCAS, indispensable. As many of you know, and if you don't know, this was an original Iranian drone design. We captured it, pulled the guts out, sent it back to America, put a little made in America on it, brought it back here, and we're shooting it at the Iranians.

QUESTION: What type of targets?

ADMIRAL COOPER: Good targets

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Good targets. Absolutely. Right there? Yes ma'am?

QUESTION: Thank you so much. Secretary Hegseth, President Trump in his first speech after the launch of the Operation Epic Fury he addressed the Iranian people. And he said that there is going to be a time for you to come out but it's not now. Stay home. It's not safe. I want to know if there is a timeline for that that you're going to urge Iranian people to come out. How that is going to playout, and how are you going to protect the protesters? You know that they're going to be shot probably, as we witnessed in January. That's what happened. How are you going to protect and support the protesters? And Admiral, I have one question for you. How are you going to minimize the civilian harm? We have a lot of evidence that the Basij Units, IRGC Commanders, they are now gathering in schools, and hospitals, in purely residential areas because their headquarters are bombarded. They are ruined of course. So how are you going to protect the civilians, while you're attacking the IRGC people?

SECRETARY HEGSETH: I would just say on the protests, obviously a lot, Iranian people — the Iranian people showed a lot of courage, in those protests. And we saw — the Iranian regime was revealed for what it is, in the way they reacted to that. The world saw that. No one has done more than President Trump to reopen the opportunity for those who want a free Iran to do so. Ultimately, it's common sense, as he said up front, don't go out and protest while bombs are dropping, inside Tehran and elsewhere.  So, there will — there will come a moment, where he determines or they determine that it's the time to seize that advantage.  But there's a lot of things we're doing, and the Israeli military is doing, targeting those individuals, who are targeting those who protest. The more you do that, and you erode their will, and you erode their capabilities, the more you create an opportunity for people to boldly stand up.

ADMIRAL COOPER: Yes. I would just reinforce the point. We're targeting the people. We're targeting the headquarters, and the people, who are targeting the protesters, you know, first and foremost. I'd also just double down on the President's comments that he previously made to the people, stay in your homes, keep things calm, stay out of the way. There's a lot of U.S. and Israeli capacity coming over. We're hitting a lot of targets. The best thing for them to do for right now is just to lay low.

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Right here.

QUESTION: Good evening Mr. Secretary. One common outcome of American military action in the past has been taking in thousands of refugees into the American homeland. And I'm wondering if there's any safeguards put in place to make sure that the American people aren't having to have another wave of refugees from the Middle East or anywhere else come and stay here.

SECRETARY HEGSETH: I think it's safe to say there's no plan for a wave of new Middle Eastern refugees to the United States of America. I think as the President has pointed out for a long time, there are a lot of countries in the region who would be capable of providing that kind of support, if need be. But that's certainly not something we're planning on. Yes, back there. Yes.

QUESTION: Yes, Sir. Mike Glen, Washington Times. I wanted to ask — I know Semper Gumby is always a truism in the military. Did the British decision to refuse Diego Garcia have any impact on the mission itself? Did you have to adjust? Or were you able to just completely go with the mission without (inaudible)?

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Well, as the President stated, it was unfortunate that our — that the Brits didn't, from day one, say, hey, go ahead and have access. But we got there — we got there, and that's now part of the way that we're operationalizing bomber runs. And that's part of — when we say more to come, it's more fighter squadrons, it's more capabilities, it's more defensive capabilities, and it's more bomber pulses more frequently. The amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically. And part of it is that we're going to have even more basing. And it's not just the U.K. We've had other friends step up and we're grateful for that.

Maybe one more right here.

QUESTION: Yes. The Azeri President earlier today basically authorized his minister of defense to begin preparing troops for some type of retaliatory action for the airport strike. Has the Department of War and CENTCOM working on deconflicting with the Azeri if they were to move in or attempt something in retaliation?

SECRETARY HEGSETH: I'm sure there are plans, but I'll let the Admiral speak to that. But I — that does allow me to kind of address this idea that the war might be expanding, or there — or there's chaos, and — nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, what Iran is doing by targeting allied countries that would, otherwise, want to stay out of this, they've actually pulled them into the American orbit. So now, you've got UAE and Qatar, and Bahrain, and Saudi, and Kuwait, and others, saying, hey, we're with you. Here's — we'll shoot with you. We'll fly with you. We'll defend with you. We'll allow you more basing and other — a lot of which we can't talk about and won't talk about. But it's actually firming up the unity of the resistance in order to focus exactly where we need to. So, this idea that it's expanding or going — no, it's actually — it's actually simplifying in a number of ways exactly what we need to achieve and how we'll achieve it. I don't know if you — anything to add to that.

ADMIRAL COOPER: I won't get out of – get ahead of policy in terms of what we might do. What I will point out is this is now the 12th country that Iran has attacked. Twelve countries and it goes right back to the Secretary's point. Those 12 countries are none too happy. And I look forward to working with all the partners who are willing to join us in this.

SECRETARY HEGSETH: I would just close by saying —

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, one more question.

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Sure.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what is your message to Americans who are concerned about security here at home with the change up that we're going to see at the Department of Homeland Security?

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Well, I think — I think Kristi Noem did an excellent job over there, securing our border and keeping us focused on threats. And the President making a change, we all serve at the pleasure of the President. I'm sure Mark Wayne Mullin will do a fantastic job. He's been a friend of mine for a long time. But Kristi did a great job setting us up for success. So I don't have any concerns about whether or not the homeland will be covered down on. 

And I'll just end by saying. I wish every American could get a chance to see what we see. I had a chance to go into the control room, into the tactical operation center, go see these young men and women that are doing this, the dedication that they show at every level. The way they've refined their craft. I was talking to a young colonel who's iterating on how we target and how we — how we find and fix different aspects of what the Iranians are trying to do.  If — they don't know what they're up against. And if they think they've got it solved for, they're wrong. And ultimately, the combination of our ingenuity, the skill, the professionalism, the discipline, and then the sheer weight of the capabilities of the U.S. military, what you're going to see may look routine. It might start to be like, oh, another boat, oh, another launcher, oh, another drone facility. What it takes to do this with the precision that we do is worldclass. No one else can do it. And it's worldclass Americans. Like the ones I saw here, like the ones that are coming home that we're going to greet home, that are the engine of what makes our country great.  And so, I'm so grateful for folks like those here at CENTCOM — at Central Command who are under your command. Thank you for your decisive leadership. And all I'll say to you is — what I say to them, keep going, because the President and myself, we have your back.

Thank you, Admiral. Appreciate it.

ADMIRAL COOPER: Thanks very much.

SECRETARY HEGSETH: Thank you all.