00:00As the Secretary said, we're four days in, 103 hours into this campaign.
00:04The operation was again launched with clear military objectives designed to dismantle
00:09Iran's ability to project power outside of its borders, both today and in the future.
00:15First, we are targeting and eliminating Iran's ballistic missile systems to prevent them
00:19from threatening the U.S. forces, partners, and interests in the region.
00:24Second, we are destroying the Iranian Navy, degrading its capacity, capability,
00:30and ability to conduct operations not just in the Central Command AOR,
00:36but as the Secretary showed in the video around the world.
00:39Third, we're ensuring Iran cannot rapidly rebuild or reconstitute its combat capability or combat power,
00:48and those phases will begin as the campaign continues.
00:52As of this morning, U.S. Central Command is making steady progress.
00:58Iran's theater ballistic missile shots fired are down 86 percent from the first day of fighting,
01:05with a 23 percent decrease just in the last 24 hours.
01:10And their one-way attack drone shots are down 73 percent from the opening days.
01:16This progress has allowed CENTCOM to establish localized air superiority across the southern flank of the Iranian coast
01:25and penetrate their defenses with overwhelming precision and firepower.
01:30We will now begin to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory,
01:38and creating additional freedom of maneuver for U.S. forces.
01:43Let me explain a little bit about how we're thinking about staying ahead of the enemy.
01:48First, over the past several weeks, Admiral Cooper and the CENTCOM team have refined their operational approach to the region.
01:55Their planners identified key centers of gravity that would allow Iran to project power outside of its borders.
02:04They thought about how to isolate critical vulnerabilities and determined where, with precision,
02:11the greatest strategic effect could be achieved.
02:14As a result of this, CENTCOM is now shifting, in day four already,
02:19from large, deliberate strike packages using standoff munitions at range outside an enemy's ability to shoot at us,
02:28now into stand-in precision strikes overhead Iran.
02:34As the Secretary said, this is a point of munitions transition from standoff munitions to stand-in munitions,
02:42like joint direct attack munitions, which are GPS-aided free-fall weapons,
02:47and other things like hellfires, et cetera.
02:50This will allow the joint force to deliver significantly increased precision effects on the target.
02:58The throttle is coming up, as the Secretary said, as opposed to ramping down.
03:03This will allow us to maintain consistent pressure on the adversary over the coming days,
03:09disrupt their launch timelines, and impose cost every day around the clock.
03:13I know there have been a lot of questions about munitions.
03:16We have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both on the offense and defense.
03:23But I want to tell you, teammates, as a matter of practice, I don't want to be talking about quantities.
03:28And I know there's been a great debate about that, and I appreciate the interest,
03:32but just know that we consider that an operational security matter.
03:36Let me flip to the map here.
03:38Hopefully I don't kill anybody with a laser pointer.
03:42As I mentioned earlier, and for you with the camera right there, my friend, I hope I don't ricochet off
03:47and hurt you.
03:48Over the initial days, the U.S. Joint Forces continued to attack and attrit ballistic missile capabilities,
03:56as well as integrated air defense capabilities along the southern axis.
04:00Along the northern axis, Israel and the Israeli Air Force has predominantly been working integrated air defense targets
04:07along the northern flank, as well as medium-range ballistic missile capability as well.
04:13From the sea, the USS Ford has continued to project combat power here,
04:18as well as the bomber pulses that we talked about in the opening days of this briefing.
04:25Along the southern axis, the USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Group has continued to provide pressure
04:31from the sea along the southeastern side of the coast and has been attritting naval capability
04:38all along the strait and up into the Arabian Gulf at a size and scale sufficiently to address the targets
04:46required.
04:47To date, we've hit over 2,000 targets, as Admiral Cooper said in his video last night.
04:53We've destroyed more than 20 Iranian naval vessels, including, in addition to the frigate outside of the area,
05:02one submarine and effectively neutralized, at this point in time, Iran's major naval presence in theater out there.
05:12As the Secretary showed the video, for the first time since 1945, a United States Navy fast-attack submarine has
05:20sunk an enemy combatant ship
05:21using a single Mark 48 torpedo to achieve immediate effects, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.
05:28I want to remind everybody that this is an incredible demonstration of America's global reach.
05:34To hunt, find, and kill an out-of-area deployer is something that only the United States can do at
05:39this type of scale.
05:40Over the next 24 to 48 hours, CENTCOM will continue to strike infrastructure and naval capability
05:47and will continue to assess our progress against the military objectives.
05:52It does take time for us to collect that information and to assess en route.
05:57Much of our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability is currently hunting and killing ballistic missile launchers
06:05and one-way attack capability.
06:07We're precise in that assessment, and we call balls and strikes in that assessment.
06:13We take that matter seriously.
06:18Iran, on the other hand, has been indiscriminate and more imprecise in their attacks.
06:23They've fired more than 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2,000 drones,
06:27striking innocent civilian targets throughout the region.
06:30Our partners are answering the call to defend themselves, right alongside us.
06:37Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait are all defending their people
06:42with their own combat capability with precision and restraint.
06:47Jordanian air defense crews recently intercepted a cluster of Iranian one-way attack drones headed to Amman.
06:53Bahrain's air defense forces shot down an inbound drone approaching Manama's maritime infrastructure,
07:00protecting both their population and critical shipping lanes.
07:04Saudi Patriot batteries stopped a salvo of ballistic missiles aimed at energy facilities near Daharan.
07:10The UAE neutralized multiple drones targeting Abu Dhabi's industrial zone,
07:16demonstrating speed and precision.
07:19And Qatar, Qatari fighters for the first time have shot down two Iranian bombers that were en route to their
07:26location.
07:28Together, these nations are helping to defend themselves and project power as required against the enemy.
07:35We're 100 hours in.
07:37It's still very early, as the Secretary said, but the balance is shifting.
07:41We've always got to remember that these operations are complex, dangerous, and far from over.
07:46Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, guardians, and Coast Guard guardsmen remain in harm's way,
07:53and we must be clear-eyed that the risk is still high.
07:56This is combat.
07:58Let us never forget this.
07:59As we continue, I ask that we hold all of our deployed teammates in our thoughts,
08:04those standing the watch, flying the sorties, sustaining the fight, and carrying our nation's burden.
08:10And I'll stop where I started, and that's remembering our six fallen who will return home as soon as possible.
08:18I remain humbled, grateful, inspired by, every day, the valor and professionalism of our joint force.
08:26They are quiet professionals through and through, out there doing America's work through the day and through the darkness.
08:34And with that, I'll take your questions along with the Secretary.
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