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00:03¡Gracias!
00:30So, unbrickable resolve was the same from family after family.
00:35They said, finish this.
00:38Honor their sacrifice.
00:40Do not waiver.
00:42Do not stop until the job is done.
00:46My response, along with that of the president, was simple.
00:49Of course, we will finish this.
00:52We will honor their sacrifice.
00:54Their sacrifice only steals our commitment.
00:59I wear this bracelet. Staff Sergeant Jorge Oliveira. He was one of my sergeants or one of my specialists in
01:07Guantanamo Bay. He deployed later to Afghanistan, where he was killed on 19 October 2011. Killed 10 years after 9
01:14-11, 15 years ago. He was one of the 1%, the best of America. Not just a guardsman, but a
01:21law enforcement officer back home and a family man.
01:25I remember him every day, just like so many other men and women of our generation and previous generations who
01:31wear bracelets like this. Just as we will always remember those lost in this conflict. Their names are now etched
01:41into our mission and into the soul of a grateful nation.
01:47I stand here today, speaking to you, the American people. Not through filters. Not through reporters. Not through cable news
02:00spin. A dishonest and anti-Trump press will stop at nothing. We know this at this point.
02:08To downplay progress. Amplify every cost. And call into question every step. Sadly, TDS is in their DNA. They want
02:22President Trump to fail. But you, the American people, know better.
02:27Yes, there are reporters in front of me, but they are not our audience today. It's you, the good, decent,
02:36patriotic American people. You, the hardworking, taxpaying, God-fearing American patriots.
02:45The media here, not all of it, but much of it, wants you to think just 19 days into this
02:55conflict that we're somehow spinning toward an endless abyss or a forever war or a quagmire.
03:01Nothing could be further from the truth. Hear it from me, one of hundreds of thousands who fought in Iraq
03:11and Afghanistan, who watched previous foolish politicians like Bush, Obama, and Biden squander American credibility.
03:20This is not those wars. President Trump knows better. Epic Fury is different. It's laser focused. It's decisive.
03:32Our objectives, given directly from our America first president, remain exactly what they were on day one.
03:41These are not the media's objectives. Not Iran's objectives. Not new objectives. Our objectives. Unchanged, on target, and on plan.
03:56Destroy missiles, launchers, and Iran's defense industrial base so they cannot rebuild. Destroy their navy, and Iran never gets a
04:07nuclear weapon.
04:08Our objectives from day one. To the patriotic members of the press, nobody can deliver perfection in wartime. This building
04:19knows that more than anyone.
04:21But report the reality. We're winning decisively, and on our terms. Iran is a vast country, and just like Hamas
04:33and their tunnels,
04:34they've poured any aid, any economic development, humanitarian aid, into tunnels and rockets. That's what they did with Hamas.
04:42Iran has funneled decades of state resources, not to their people, but into missiles, and drones, and proxies, and buried
04:51facilities.
04:53But we are hunting them down, methodically, ruthlessly, and overwhelmingly, like no other military in the world can do.
05:02And the results speak for themselves.
05:05To date, we've struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure.
05:10That is not incremental.
05:12That is overwhelming force applied with precision.
05:15And again, today will be the largest strike package yet, just like yesterday was.
05:21As I've said from day one, our capabilities continue to build.
05:24Iran's continue to degrade.
05:32Iran's defense industrial base, the factories, the production lines that feed their missile and drone programs, being overwhelmingly destroyed.
05:44We've hit hundreds of their defense industrial bases directly.
05:49Their ability to manufacture new ballistic missiles has probably taken the hardest hit of all.
05:54Ballistic missile attacks against our forces, down 90% since the start of the conflict.
05:59Same with one-way attack UAVs.
06:01Think kamikaze drones, down 90%.
06:04Now, the Iranians will still shoot.
06:06We know that.
06:07But they would shoot a lot more if they could.
06:09But they can't.
06:12The last job anyone in the world wants right now?
06:15Senior leader for the IRGC.
06:18Or besiege.
06:20Temp jobs.
06:21All of them.
06:23And to borrow a page from Admiral Ernest King in World War II, we've decided to share the ocean with
06:29Iran.
06:31We've given them the bottom half.
06:34We've damaged or sunk over 120 of their Navy ships, with battle damage assessments pending for many more.
06:41See, oftentimes we have to wait a few days on battle damage assessment to get the real number.
06:46Their surface fleet is no longer a factor.
06:48Their submarines, they once had 11, are gone.
06:50Their military ports are crippled.
06:53Iran has terrorized the United States and our interests for 47 years.
07:00Their core industries, not steel or agriculture or tourism.
07:06Their core industries are state-sponsored terrorism, proxy militias, underground networks, ballistic missiles, and a violent, messianic, Islamist ideology chasing
07:17some sort of apocalyptic endgame.
07:20A regime like that refusing to abandon its nuclear ambitions is not just a regional problem.
07:29It's a direct threat to America, to freedom, and to civilization.
07:34The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press, should be saying one
07:43thing to President Trump.
07:45Thank you.
07:47Thank you for the courage to stop this terror state from holding the world hostage with missiles while building or
07:54attempting to build a nuclear bomb.
07:56Thank you for doing the work of the free world yesterday's ceremony reminded us why we fight, not for nation
08:07building or democracy promotion, but to crush direct threats to America, Americans, and our interests.
08:16We fight to win, and we are winning, on our terms, following our objectives.
08:25My 13-year-old son popped into my office last night while I was editing these remarks.
08:31He asked about the war and the families I met at Dover.
08:35And I looked at him and I said, they died for you, son, so that your generation doesn't have to
08:44deal with a nuclear Iran.
08:47It's the truth.
08:48And they did.
08:50So to the families who said, finish this, we will.
08:55And I say the same to every American who wants peace through strength.
09:01May Almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight.
09:05And again, to the American people, please pray for them every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your
09:15schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.
09:20To the troops, keep going.
09:24And Godspeed.
09:26Over to you, Mr. Chairman.
09:28Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
09:29Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and thank you all for being here.
09:32I also had the honor yesterday, as the Secretary said, of traveling up to Dover with the President to welcome
09:37home our Sixth Fallen.
09:39It was an honor and a privilege for me to be there and to say thank you to their families.
09:43And I want to mention their names this morning.
09:45From the Sixth Aerial Refueling Wing out of MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, but stationed as part of an active
09:52associate unit at Birmingham, Alabama, Major Alex Klenner, John Alec, Major, Ariana Savino.
10:01She was posthumously promoted from Captain to Major, and Technical Sergeant Ashley Pruitt, the boom operator on that crew.
10:10From the 121st Aerial Refueling Wing, Ohio Air National Guard out of Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio,
10:18Captain Seth Koval, Captain Curtis Angst, and now Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons, who was also promoted in the boom operator
10:26on that crew.
10:27To a person and every family member I spoke with yesterday, they all shared that their family members loved serving,
10:35they loved being part of a great team and a crew, and they loved airplanes and aviation.
10:41Our nation's tanker crews really are unsung heroes, incredible warriors who put their lives on the line so we can
10:49continue to take the fight to an enemy.
10:51I've personally witnessed their courage and tenacity many times, from the morning of September 11th, where they answered my call
11:00for some help, to the skies over foreign countries, where they've come forward out of their safe tanker track to
11:07give me gas when I simply could not leave a ground force that was engaged in a firefight.
11:12They've answered the call and come forward time and time and time and time again.
11:17I'm filled with incredible pride and gratitude for all that the tanker crews do, our pilots, our boom operators, and
11:25the maintainers.
11:27And to the families of our six fallen, know that we share your grief.
11:32Our nation will never forget their sacrifice, and we will never forget their names.
11:38Our entire joint force mourns with you today, and we'll continue to remember their incredible gift of a great example
11:46for all of us.
11:47Now let me turn to an operations update.
11:50U.S. CENTCOM remains on plan to achieve our military objectives and remain unrelenting in our pursuit of Iranian missile
11:58capabilities, UAV capabilities, and their Navy, and as the Secretary said, their industrial base.
12:04Each day, we continue to attack deeper into Iranian territory.
12:10As reported by U.S. Central Command yesterday, the U.S. military dropped 5,000-pound penetrator weapons into underground
12:18storage facilities, storing coastal defense cruise missiles and other support equipment.
12:23These weapons are bespokely designed to get through concrete and or rocks and function after penetrating those barriers.
12:35We continue to hunt and kill mine storage facilities and naval ammunition depots.
12:40We continue to hunt and kill afloat assets, including more than 120 vessels and 44 mine layers, and the pressure
12:48will continue.
12:49We're flying further to the east now and penetrating deeper into Iranian airspace to hunt and kill one-way attack
12:56garrisons, destroying Iran's ability to project power outside of its borders.
13:01The A-10 Warthog is now in the fight across the southern flank and is hunting and killing fast-attack
13:08watercraft in the Straits of Hormuz.
13:10In addition, AH-64 Apaches have joined the fight on the southern flank, and they continue to work on the
13:18southern side, and that includes some of our allies who are using Apaches to handle one-way attack drones.
13:25In Iraq, AH-64s have been striking against Iranian-aligned militia groups to make sure that we suppress any threat
13:34in Iraq against U.S. forces or U.S. interests.
13:38And we remain focused on pursuit of any platform that Iran could field to harm Americans or our partners.
13:47Last Friday, Admiral Cooper and the CENTCOM team conducted precision strikes against more than 90 targets on Karg Island, which
13:54included all of their military-only infrastructure, which included air defenses, naval base, mine storage, and deployment facilities.
14:03And as the Secretary mentioned, we continue to strike against Iran's defense industrial base, and will continue to do so.
14:11Today, I want to continue my theme of talking about members of our incredible joint force.
14:17Today, I want to talk about some exceptional airmen who are engaged in the fight daily.
14:21United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard crews within our bomber force, the B-1s, B
14:29-2s, and B-52s, and the airmen on the ground who maintain and load these weapon systems.
14:35They are the backbone of America's long-range strike capability, and their contributions to Epic Fury have been decisive.
14:44Assigned to STRATCOM under Admiral Rich Correll, and supported by TRANSCOM, the tanker force that we've talked about, under the
14:52command of General Randall Reed,
14:54every mission is designed to achieve overwhelming outcomes on behalf of the United States and our allies.
15:01Last weekend, I had the chance to go out and see some of our deployed bomber forces, the B-1
15:07and B-52 crews,
15:09and I had a chance to sit down with some young aviators and maintainers and ask them,
15:14how do you feel? Tell me about your typical day.
15:17And these are crews comprised of between two and five airmen, two on the B-2s, five on the B
15:26-52s, and four in the B-1s out there.
15:31Some of these Americans are in their early or mid-20s, and we give them the gift of this incredible
15:37responsibility.
15:39Hundreds of thousands of pounds of aircraft, and they take off and go do our work as required.
15:45Their mission actually begins the day prior, when they're given a target or a bunch of targets, and they begin
15:52to study those targets,
15:53look at what are the effects required, what are the weapons required to get there, how will we program these
15:58weapons, what is the weather, what is the tanker flow.
16:01It's an incredibly complex problem that we give each and every one of these crews, and they work it over
16:07the period of 24 hours prior,
16:09get some rest, and then step out the door to go fly.
16:13The last thing they do is they check all of their equipment, their oxygen masks, survival gear, load pistols, and
16:19get ready to go.
16:20They crank the jets about an hour prior to takeoff and then launch into the daylight, doing their pre-flight
16:26checks,
16:27and as the kids say, lock in and prepare to go to war, sometimes on a long and stressful journey.
16:33During the flight, they're surrounded by technology and capabilities, and they'll do multiple aerial refueling efforts across tankers on the
16:44way to the AOR area of responsibility,
16:47either coming from the states or coming from a forward deployed basing.
16:50And I will tell you, as a fighter pilot, getting gas is a lot easier in an F-16 than
16:56it is in a B-1, B-2, or a B-52, where you are handling this airplane.
17:03It is a physical thing, unlike a fighter that's a lot easier.
17:07And they stay on that boom for sometimes up to 30 minutes, taking hundreds of thousands of pounds of gas.
17:13It is a physical, demanding thing to take gas, and they do it multiple times on the way there, and
17:20they do it multiple times on the way home.
17:23As they enter the operating area, they bring the entirety of America's joint force together to go do the things
17:30that we've tasked them to do,
17:32to put bombs on time, on target, with the proper effects.
17:36And I know they're feeling a range of emotions, but the thing the American people should take away from it
17:42is they're filled with a focus,
17:43that is incredibly impressive.
17:45And they have fear, of course, but their bigger fear is, dear God, please don't let me screw this up.
17:51The warrior's prayer that we all have in our souls.
17:56In the days of Epic Fury, they were shooting, as we've talked about in this room, a lot of standoff
18:01weapons.
18:02Now we've switched and rolled, as I mentioned last week, to stand-in weapons.
18:07And behind each and every one of them are incredible maintainers and weapons builders who go out there and make
18:14sure these aircraft and their weapons systems are ready to go.
18:18These airplanes are so big that they're not in hangars.
18:21They're out in the cold, out in the snow, out in the rain.
18:25The bombs are being built outside for protection and to make sure that it's safe, and they do it 24
18:31-7, 365.
18:33It's not comfortable work, but when you go spend just a minute with these incredibly young Americans who are so
18:40motivated,
18:41you cannot come away from that exchange not being hopeful for America's future.
18:46It is simply awesome.
18:49And we hand these Americans, young Americans, incredible and weighty responsibility, and they deliver every single time,
18:59quietly, with professionalism and humility, doing the things that we ask them to do.
19:06In conclusion, we will continue major combat operations.
19:09As the Secretary said, we continue to get busier.
19:12I know the Secretary and I share that we're incredibly proud of 2.8 million members of our joint force.
19:18I am personally and we are personally grateful for the tenacity and professionalism of the brave men and women
19:25who serve inside STRATCOM, CENTCOM, SPACECOM, CYBERCOM, TRANSCOM, and the rest of the joint force.
19:32And I'll close where I started.
19:35I ask today that we remember those six fallen that came home.
19:39They represent the best of our nation.
19:42For those families that are feeling the pain, know that we are with you and will remain with you.
19:47May we always prove worthy of their sacrifice.
19:51And I'll turn it back over to you, sir.
19:52Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
19:54I'll take a couple questions.
19:55Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
19:56Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
19:57Given the updated target numbers you laid out,
19:59how close would you say we are towards achieving the President's objectives?
20:03And what is the endgame of the operation without divulging any sensitive battle plans?
20:07Well, we wouldn't want to set a definitive time frame on that, but as we've said, we're on plan.
20:11So we're looking at those metrics very closely, relaying that to the President and the national security team.
20:17But feel confident that as, again, we're more stand in, means we're over the top, even further in.
20:23And we have even more of an exact sense of what we're striking and why, and even more dynamically.
20:28Meaning, because the intelligence improves, we're able to more quickly identify targets when they,
20:33let's say they come out of an underground facility where they've been hiding and able to strike it before it
20:38strikes or right after it shoots.
20:40But we are very much on plan.
20:42And that's why I want to speak to the American people here.
20:44You hear a lot of noise about widening or new missions or speculation about what we should or should not
20:50be doing.
20:51This is a clear set of objectives.
20:53The President has given us every capability we need to accomplish that.
20:56We've got the best in the world in uniform executing it on the ground.
21:00They believe in and are invested in this mission.
21:04And it will be at the President's choosing, ultimately, where we say, hey, we've achieved what we need to on
21:09behalf of the American people to ensure our security.
21:12So no time set on that, but we're very much on track.
21:16Absolutely.
21:16Yes, right here.
21:18Good morning, Mr. Secretary.
21:19David Zier, Real America's Voice News.
21:22What countries have been the most cooperative with us, including the Gulf states, as Europe hedges?
21:28And I also wanted to ask you the Internet blackouts by the regime.
21:32It's been shut down for weeks.
21:34Is the U.S. military playing a role in, you know, fighting against the regime, blocking VPN networks and satellites
21:41and other things?
21:44Is there a role for the U.S. military there?
21:48Obviously, on the allies and partners side, Israel, from day one, has been an incredible and capable partner, willing and
21:55able.
21:55There's nothing like capabilities and partners that are able to use them.
21:59The Gulf states have stepped up incredibly.
22:01In fact, Iran's sort of reckless attempt to strike civilian infrastructure and other things has brought countries who maybe would
22:09have not been as all in as they are today squarely into our orbit.
22:14And we're proud to be defending with them, standing with them, you name it.
22:22As far as the Internet, we're watching the regime try to tighten its grip as much as possible.
22:32We're obviously taking countermeasures, many of which we can't talk about here, to ensure that messaging is delivered, not just
22:39to the Iranian people writ large,
22:41but to the right audiences, certain audiences that need to hear certain things about what their fate might look like
22:46or what their choices are.
22:48So even though that regime is trying really hard to ensure the world can't see, right, they want to put
22:54out fake AI-generated images,
22:56which, by the way, sometimes our press happens to fall for, like the Abraham Lincoln on fire and turning around.
23:01These AI-generated images are meant to make it look like something's happening when the exact opposite is.
23:06So they make up fake reports and fake images to lie to their own people to try to make it.
23:12But even then, their own people can barely receive a lot of those messages and communicate because of the blackout
23:16that they've imposed upon them.
23:18But we work around that, for sure.
23:21Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
23:23General, overnight, Iran launched missiles across the Gulf.
23:26They managed to hit the Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea.
23:31What does it mean that they have that capability now, three weeks into the war?
23:36And, Mr. Secretary, you mentioned civilian infrastructure.
23:40Iran seems to be treating U.S. diplomatic outposts, embassies, consulates, like they are legitimate hard targets in the region
23:50now.
23:51What is the Pentagon doing to, I guess, secure those assets, stop those attacks?
23:56Absolutely.
23:58Thanks for the question on the missile strikes.
24:00You know, as we said and have always said clearly, they came into this fight with a lot of weapons.
24:06This is why we continue to be as aggressive and assertive as we can against their ballistic missile capability,
24:14both their medium-range ballistic missile capability and their short-range missile capability.
24:19So we are continuing to hunt and find them and kill them, and we will continue to do so.
24:26So they still retain some capability.
24:28And we have layered defenses throughout the region that will allow us to protect those.
24:33And we're working with our partners across the Gulf region to help them improve any defensive capabilities that they may
24:39need.
24:39To that point on capabilities, you know, Iran is an energy-rich country, could be, should be.
24:45Instead, like so many other places driven by a radical ideology, they've spent that money instead of investing in their
24:51people.
24:52That's why you had millions of Iranians protesting, because they felt like their condition, quality of life didn't match what
24:58it could be or should be.
24:59And what was the Iranian state?
25:00There's a reason we call Iran the number one state sponsor of terrorism, because they took the money they make
25:07and they invested in tunnels and they invested in missiles and they invested in launchers and UAVs.
25:12And we are destroying and degrading that in historic proportions.
25:15But it doesn't mean they won't still have some and try to hold people at issue, which is why we're
25:20fighting every single day to continue to compel.
25:22And you mentioned embassies and consulates.
25:25Unlike previous administrations, we are doubling and tripling down on ensuring that our people, regardless of their Department of War,
25:33Department of State, whatever they do, are secure in those facilities.
25:36And the best defense is a good offense.
25:39And so we're not afraid to go after and kill anybody.
25:42And we have a lot of them attempting to target our diplomatic facilities.
25:47Iran, you know, we're not surprised that they would indiscriminately target.
25:51And we're still seeing that.
25:52Jerry.
25:54As part of the justification for the war against Iran, the White House has laid out in fairly comprehensive fashion
26:00that Iran, the Iranian regime's 47 years of terrorism aimed at the U.S.,
26:05including pointing to the IRGC's provision of weapons and EFPs to help kill Americans in Iraq.
26:13The Pentagon in 2019 assessed Iran was responsible for the deaths of at least 603 service members in Iraq.
26:20But there hasn't been a similar accounting, public accounting, by Iran's role helping the Taliban in Afghanistan.
26:29And that also hasn't been part of the White House's public argument.
26:31I was wondering if you could speak to Iran's role in helping the Taliban during the war in Afghanistan.
26:40And, Chairman, as you and the Secretary eloquently spoke about, 13 U.S. service members have been killed so far
26:48during Operation Epic Fury.
26:50I was wondering what lessons have been learned from those deaths, both from Iranian strikes, from an aircraft refueling accident.
26:59How are those lessons being applied to the current conflict?
27:02And how are those lessons going to be applied to a potential conflict in Indo-Pacon?
27:08Thank you.
27:09Well, thank you for the question.
27:10And it's true.
27:12In a town that can have a very short memory, President Trump does not.
27:16He remembers what this regime, Iranian regime, was founded on, what their declaration has been from the beginning.
27:22Death to America, death to Israel.
27:25They've stated that.
27:26They've intended to, in every way, try to accomplish that, killing Americans in any theater they can, embassies for quite
27:33a long time.
27:35In Iraq, that was the deadliest weapon, was the EFP, the Explosively Formed Penetrator.
27:39I was there when that tactic and technique started to emerge.
27:42And the realization was it wasn't just jihadis putting together 155 rounds, daisy-chained.
27:48It was an entire state, a country, with its apparatus, able to mold steel in a way that was specifically
27:56designed to penetrate American armor and kill Americans.
27:58This was not, oh, maybe we send them a couple of thoughts about how to build a bomb.
28:03This was Iran specifically passing technology and wherewithal and personnel into Iraq to kill Americans specifically.
28:11I know the number is said to be 600.
28:13A lot of us think it's higher than that, given the amount of capability they brought in.
28:17So they have been at war with us, whether we acknowledge it or not, for 47 years.
28:22The same goes in Afghanistan.
28:23Name the Islamist enemy, whether they are Sunni or Shia, because this is a Shia regime.
28:29Sunni or Shia, and Iran's been willing to harbor them, as long as that group is willing to try to
28:35kill Americans.
28:36So the enemy of their enemy has been their friend as well in the Islamist world.
28:39So Iran, whether it's Iraq, whether it's Afghanistan, whether it's around the world, has been targeting Americans.
28:45And what they wanted in this context, and what President Trump would not tolerate, is a regime of that nature
28:51being closer and closer to nuclear capabilities.
28:55A capability they would have said they would want to use, and we ought believe what our enemies say they
29:00would do if they got the most dangerous weapon in the world.
29:02So it's been across every theater that Iran's been a threat to America, and sometimes we have to remind folks
29:09of that.
29:09But thank goodness we have a commander-in-chief who, on behalf of this country, has internalized that and said,
29:15hey, we're going to do something about it.
29:17Jerry, I do want to talk about the lessons learned question, because it's important to me.
29:22I won't share particular tactical lessons, and the KC-135 incident is under investigation.
29:31But I do want to talk about how I think about this and how we think about it, and this
29:37is something that I'm pretty passionate about.
29:39I believe the Joint Force has to be a very fast learning organization, early, often, and always.
29:47And so in each case, both at the strategic, operational, and tactical level, we've charged the Joint Force to look
29:55at themselves and say,
29:56first, did we have a plan, yes or no?
29:58The answer is always yes, because we plan for literally everything.
30:02Did we execute our plan, yes or no?
30:04If we did, did it work?
30:06If not, why not?
30:07If we didn't execute our plan, but did something better, what's the lesson learned associated with that?
30:13And then how do we quickly capture those lessons after every loss or every engagement and quickly adopt those lessons
30:23and then share them across the entirety of the Joint Force?
30:27And inside the Joint Staff, we've tasked our J-7 Directorate, under the lead of General Lieutenant General Liszewski, a
30:36United States Marine,
30:37to be extremely entrepreneurial in harvesting and capturing those lessons in a proactive and not reactive way.
30:45In fact, we've got teammates from the J-7 who are now spread out across the CENTCOM Theater, both here
30:52in the States and forward,
30:54to ensure that in every opportunity, we do not miss a chance to grab that lesson and quickly accelerate it
31:02into the practice that we adopt inside the Joint Force,
31:05so that if there's a loss or if there's something that we can learn from, that we learn it not
31:10only in the CENTCOM AOR,
31:12but we adapt it across all of the combatant commands, not just into PACOM.
31:17And it's across all of the warfighting functions.
31:20I've asked them to look rigorously, to check our egos at the door, to remember this is about what's right,
31:28not who's right,
31:29and to be clinical around the way we look at lessons learned, because we owe it to the force to
31:34do that.
31:34Thanks for that question.
31:35Absolutely.
31:36Brown Jack at the back.
31:38Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
31:39Jonathan Dray with Roku Politics.
31:41As you've said, at the end of this war, Iran will be without a missile or drone capability, a navy
31:45or the ability to make nuclear weapons.
31:47Since the largest threat and sponsor of terror in the region will be incapacitated,
31:52are there plans to move assets and troops out of the Middle East?
31:55I guess in a perfect world, a year after the war has ended, what does the military presence in the
32:01Middle East look like compared to before the war?
32:03Well, I appreciate the question.
32:05I do think when you address a real threat head on, it creates new options on the other side.
32:12I think what President Trump refuses to do, which too often this town does, is just sit in the status
32:18quo.
32:19Oh, nobody can do about that.
32:20They've got too much capability.
32:21What if this happens?
32:22What if that happens?
32:23He instead says, what's in the interest of the American people?
32:26It's going to take some courage.
32:27It's going to take some capabilities.
32:29We're going to have to gather some forces there in order to do it.
32:31We're not going to tell people how many or how long or what we're willing to do or what we're
32:35not willing to do.
32:37But if you do that and do that decisively, then out the other end is a recognition that it opens
32:42the aperture of what's possible.
32:43I mean, President Trump did the same thing in creating an opportunity for the Abraham Accords.
32:47Now you've got a situation where a lot of those countries are coming alongside us recognizing the threat of Iran.
32:53So I think our posture in the future will be based first and foremost on our own national security, power
33:00projection, the ability to defend our people and our interests.
33:03But no doubt, working alongside our partners, the president will look at what makes the most sense going forward.
33:09I appreciate that question.
33:10Yes, right here.
33:11Is that the policy of the U.S. military now?
33:13I didn't.
33:14Thank you, Secretary.
33:15Two questions for you.
33:17The vice president has often emphasized that the goal of this war is to denuclearize Iran while also avoiding a
33:24larger quagmire.
33:25I know that you touched on this.
33:27I'd like you to expand on how do you do that.
33:30How do you denuclearize the country while also avoiding this forever war?
33:36And then there was a report last night that the Pentagon asked the White House for $200 billion for Iran
33:42war supplemental.
33:43Can you confirm this and can you explain why a package this large is necessary?
33:49Well, first of all, none of this would have been possible without Midnight Hammer, without that audacious mission with very
33:54clear goals that did obliterate their ability to enrich and the capabilities they have in those facilities.
33:59So it created the conditions for Iran to step forward and say, OK, you can reach out and touch us
34:04like that in our nuclear ambitions.
34:06You can see that we're still trying to do this.
34:08Let's make a deal.
34:09And President Trump put our two best folks on it, Steve and Jared, and they worked diligently, earnestly.
34:14I watched it to try to pursue that deal.
34:17And ultimately, I think the whole time Iran sort of said, well, we'll talk as we build more missiles and
34:23as we build more UAVs.
34:24And we create this conventional umbrella so that if we chose to, we could try to reconstitute the program and
34:32sort of naively thinking that President Trump wouldn't do something about it.
34:35And that's why, as Secretary Rubio has said and I've said, it's the conventional umbrella that was growing and growing
34:40and growing and growing that was meant to protect that nuclear capability.
34:44So you had to address both what happened with Midnight Hammer and what happened with that as well.
34:48As far as $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously.
34:54It takes money to kill bad guys.
34:58So we're going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what's been done,
35:04for what we may have to do in the future.
35:07Ensure that our ammunition is, everything's refilled, and not just refilled, but above and beyond.
35:13I mean, President Trump, as he said, rebuilt the military in his first term.
35:16Didn't think he'd use it as dynamically in his second, but he had.
35:19So thank goodness he did that.
35:21And an investment like this is meant to say, hey, we'll replace anything that was spent.
35:24And now that we're reviving our defense industrial base and rebuilding the arsenal of freedom and cutting deals like our
35:29great deputy secretaries here is doing, long lead times on exquisite munitions, we're going to be refilled faster than anyone
35:36imagined.
35:37And I think, you know, we're also still dealing with the environment that Joe Biden created, which was which was
35:43depleting those stockholds and not sending them to our own military, but to Ukraine, which is when every time we
35:51reach back and look at any sort of a challenge we have, it goes back to, well, send it to
35:56Ukraine.
35:57Ultimately, we think this should be these these munitions are better spent in our own interests at this point.
36:02And this kind of funding bill is going to ensure that we're properly funded going forward.
36:08We'll take we'll take one more.
36:09Thank you, sir.
36:10Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
36:11Jordan Conradson with the Gateway Pundit.
36:13So with the strike yesterday on Southpars gas field, you know, if the U.S. didn't know about it or
36:19didn't approve of it, it kind of seems like a trend of Israel apparently pursuing their own objectives.
36:26Over U.S. objectives.
36:28I'm not sure if you agree with that, but the president has said he doesn't want to hit Iran's oil
36:33infrastructure right now.
36:35As you said, the U.S. avoided this on Park Island.
36:37Oil is nearing one hundred and twenty dollars.
36:40Why are we helping Israel prosecute this war if they're going to pursue their own objectives?
36:44We hold the cards.
36:46We have objectives.
36:48Those objectives are clear.
36:50We have allies pursuing objectives as well.
36:53And the truth speaks for itself.
36:54I mean, President Trump was very clear about that.
36:57Iran has weaponized energy for decades.
37:00Israel clearly sent a warning.
37:02And POTUS has made it clear.
37:04Very clear.
37:05Iran knows when you hit Karg Island and you hit military capabilities on Karg Island, which is the only thing
37:11we hit, we can hold anything at issue.
37:15Anything.
37:16The United States military controls the fate of that country.
37:18Iran has the ability to make the right choices.
37:21It should not, going forward, target Arab allies, Arab countries, trying to create pain, the pain that they created themselves.
37:31Thank you all very much.
37:32Appreciate it.
37:32Thank you for your time.
37:33Thank you.
37:33Appreciate it.
37:34Thank you.
37:34Thank you.
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