FULL VIDEO: The Middle East war has taken a dramatic and dangerous turn as Iran launches missile and drone strikes on major oil and gas hubs in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE — marking a historic escalation in the 2026 conflict. Iran’s attacks come in retaliation for strikes on its South Pars gas field, the world’s largest energy reserve shared with Qatar, triggering extensive damage to Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG complex and forcing shutdowns of key facilities.
#IranAttacksQatarSaudiArabia #IranAttacksUAEQatarSaudiArabiaIraqJordan #IranSaudiArabiaAttack #IranAttackOnSaudiArabia #IranBombSaudiQatarUAE #IranBigAttackOnSaudiArabia #IranMissileAttackQatar #IranAttackQatarGasField #IranQatarGasFieldAttack #USAttackIran #IranAttackUAEQatarBahrain #IranAttackOnQatarGasField #SaudiArabiaBaseAttackIranNews #SaudiArabiaCondemnsIranAttacks #IranMissileAttackQatarNews #IranAttackSaudiArabiaNews #IranQatarSaudiArabiaAttack #IranUAEQatarAttack #IranGasFieldAttackQatar
~PR.152~HT.408~ED.102~GR.538~
#IranAttacksQatarSaudiArabia #IranAttacksUAEQatarSaudiArabiaIraqJordan #IranSaudiArabiaAttack #IranAttackOnSaudiArabia #IranBombSaudiQatarUAE #IranBigAttackOnSaudiArabia #IranMissileAttackQatar #IranAttackQatarGasField #IranQatarGasFieldAttack #USAttackIran #IranAttackUAEQatarBahrain #IranAttackOnQatarGasField #SaudiArabiaBaseAttackIranNews #SaudiArabiaCondemnsIranAttacks #IranMissileAttackQatarNews #IranAttackSaudiArabiaNews #IranQatarSaudiArabiaAttack #IranUAEQatarAttack #IranGasFieldAttackQatar
~PR.152~HT.408~ED.102~GR.538~
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Yesterday at Dover Air Force Base, President Trump, the Chairman, and I stood in solemn
00:06silence as heroes came home.
00:09Flag-draped caskets.
00:11We honored them.
00:12We grieved with their families, and we listened.
00:17What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength, and through unbreakable
00:24resolve was the same from family after family.
00:27They said, finish this.
00:32Honor their sacrifice.
00:34Do not waver.
00:35Do not stop until the job is done.
00:39My response along with that of the President was simple, of course, we will finish this.
00:45We will honor their sacrifice.
00:48Their sacrifice only steals our commitment.
00:52I wear this bracelet, Staff Sergeant Jorge Oliveira.
00:57He was one of my sergeants or one of my specialists in Guantanamo Bay.
01:02He deployed later to Afghanistan where he was killed on 19 October 2011.
01:06Killed 10 years after 9-11.
01:08Seven, 15 years ago, he was one of the 1%, the best of America.
01:13Not just a guardsman, but a law enforcement officer back home and a family man.
01:18I remember him every day, just like so many other men and women of our generation and previous
01:24generations who wear bracelets like this.
01:25Just as we will always remember those lost in this conflict, their names are now etched into
01:36our mission and into the soul of a grateful nation.
01:41I stand here today speaking to you, the American people, not through filters, not through reporters, not through cable news
01:54spin.
01:55A dishonest and anti-Trump press will stop at nothing, we know this at this point, to downplay progress, amplify
02:05every cost, and call into question every step.
02:09Sadly, TDS is in their DNA.
02:14They want President Trump to fail.
02:17But you, the American people, know better.
02:21Yes, there are reporters in front of me, but they are not our audience today.
02:27It's you, the good, decent, patriotic American people.
02:32You the hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing American patriots.
02:39The media here, not all of it, but much of it, wants you to think, just 19 days into this
02:48conflict that we're somehow spinning toward an endless abyss, or a forever war, or a quagmire.
02:54Nothing could be further from the truth.
02:59Hear it from me, one of hundreds of thousands who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, who watched previous foolish politicians
03:08like Bush, Obama, and Biden squander American credibility.
03:13This is not those wars.
03:18President Trump knows better.
03:21Epic Fury is different.
03:23It's laser focused.
03:25It's decisive.
03:26Our objectives, given directly from our America First President, remain exactly what they were on day one.
03:34These are not the media's objectives, not Iran's objectives, not new objectives, our objectives.
03:44Unchanged, on target, and on plan.
03:49Destroy missiles, launchers, and Iran's defense industrial base so they cannot rebuild.
03:56Destroy their navy, and Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.
04:01Our objectives from day one.
04:05To the patriotic members of the press, nobody can deliver perfection in wartime.
04:11This building knows that more than anyone.
04:14But report the reality.
04:18We're winning decisively, and on our terms.
04:23Iran is a vast country, and just like Hamas and their tunnels, they've poured any aid, any economic development, humanitarian
04:31aid into tunnels and rockets.
04:33That's what they did with Hamas.
04:34Iran has funneled decades of state resources, not to their people, but into missiles and drones and proxies and buried
04:44facilities.
04:46But we are hunting them down, methodically, ruthlessly, and overwhelmingly, like no other military in the world can do.
04:55And the results speak for themselves.
04:58To date, we've struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure.
05:03That is not incremental.
05:05That is overwhelming force applied with precision.
05:08And again, today will be the largest strike package yet, just like yesterday was.
05:14As I've said from day one, our capabilities continue to build.
05:17Iran's continue to degrade.
05:20We're hunting and striking death and destruction from above.
05:26Iran's air defenses flattened.
05:29Iran's defense industrial base, the factories, the production lines that feed their missile and drone programs being overwhelmingly destroyed.
05:37We've hit hundreds of their defense industrial bases directly.
05:42Their ability to manufacture new ballistic missiles has probably taken the hardest hit of all.
05:47Ballistic missile attacks against our forces down 90% since the start of the conflict.
05:52Same with one-way attack UAVs.
05:54Think kamikaze drones, down 90%.
05:57Now, the Iranians will still shoot.
05:59We know that.
06:00But they would shoot a lot more if they could.
06:03But they can't.
06:05The last job anyone in the world wants right now?
06:09Senior leader for the IRGC.
06:11Or besiege.
06:13Temp jobs.
06:14All of them.
06:16And to borrow a page from Admiral Ernest King in World War II, we've decided to share the ocean with
06:23Iran.
06:24We've given them the bottom half.
06:27We've damaged or sunk over 120 of their Navy ships with battle damage assessments pending for many more.
06:34See, oftentimes we have to wait a few days on battle damage assessment to get the real number.
06:38Their surface fleet is no longer a factor.
06:41Their submarines, they once had 11, are gone.
06:44Their military ports are crippled.
06:47Iran has terrorized the United States and our interests for 47 years.
06:53Their core industries, not steel or agriculture or tourism.
06:59Their core industries are state-sponsored terrorism, proxy militias, underground networks, ballistic missiles,
07:06and a violent, messianic, Islamist ideology chasing some sort of apocalyptic endgame.
07:14A regime like that, refusing to abandon its nuclear ambitions, is not just a regional problem.
07:22It's a direct threat to America, to freedom, and to civilization.
07:27The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press, should be saying one
07:37thing to President Trump.
07:39Thank you. Thank you for the courage to stop this terror state from holding the world hostage with missiles while
07:46building or attempting to build a nuclear bomb.
07:49Thank you for doing the work of the free world.
07:55Yesterday's ceremony reminded us why we fight.
07:59Not for nation-building or democracy promotion, but to crush direct threats to America, Americans, and our interests.
08:09We fight to win, and we are winning, on our terms, following our objectives.
08:18My 13-year-old son popped into my office last night while I was editing these remarks.
08:24He asked about the war and the families I met at Dover, and I looked at him and I said,
08:31They died for you, son, so that your generation doesn't have to deal with a nuclear Iran.
08:40It's the truth, and they did.
08:44So, to the families who said, finish this, we will.
08:48And I say the same to every American who wants peace through strength.
08:54May Almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight.
08:59And again, to the American people, please pray for them.
09:03Every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.
09:13To the troops, keep going.
09:17And Godspeed.
09:19Over to you, Mr. Chairman.
09:20Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
09:22Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and thank you all for being here.
09:25I also had the honor yesterday, as the Secretary said, of traveling up to Dover with the President
09:30to welcome home our Sixth Fallen.
09:32It was an honor and a privilege for me to be there and to say thank you to their families.
09:37And I want to mention their names this morning.
09:39From the 6th Aerial Refueling Wing out of McDill Air Force Base, Florida,
09:43but stationed as part of an active associate unit at Birmingham, Alabama,
09:48Major Alex Klinner, John Alex Klinner, Major Ariana Savino.
09:56She was posthumously promoted from captain to major.
09:59And Technical Sergeant Ashley Pruitt, the boom operator on that crew.
10:04From the 121st Aerial Fueling Wing, Ohio Air National Guard out of Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio,
10:12Captain Seth Koval, Captain Curtis Angst, and now Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons, who was also promoted in the boom operator
10:21on that crew.
10:22To a person and every family member I spoke with yesterday, they all shared that their family members love serving.
10:29They loved being part of a great team and a crew, and they loved airplanes and aviation.
10:35Our nation's tanker crews really are unsung heroes, incredible warriors who put their lives on the line so we can
10:43continue to take the fight to an enemy.
10:45I've personally witnessed their courage and tenacity many times from the morning of September 11th,
10:52where they answered my call for some help, to the skies over foreign countries where they've come forward out of
10:59their safe tanker track
11:00to give me gas when I simply could not leave a ground force that was engaged in a firefight.
11:06They've answered the call and come forward time and time and time again.
11:11I'm filled with incredible pride and gratitude for all that the tanker crews do, our pilots, our boom operators, and
11:20the maintainers.
11:21And to the families of our six fallen, know that we share your grief.
11:27Our nation will never forget their sacrifice and we will never forget their names.
11:32Our entire joint force mourns with you today and will continue to remember their incredible gift of a great example
11:40for all of us.
11:41Now let me turn to an operations update.
11:44U.S. CENTCOM remains on plan to achieve our military objectives and remain unrelenting in our pursuit of Iranian missile
11:52capabilities,
11:54UAV capabilities, and their Navy, and as the Secretary said, their industrial base.
11:58Each day we continue to attack deeper into Iranian territory.
12:04As reported by U.S. Central Command yesterday, the U.S. military dropped 5,000 pound penetrator weapons into underground
12:12storage facilities,
12:14storing coastal defense, cruise missiles, and other support equipment.
12:18These weapons are bespokely designed to get through concrete and or rocks and function after penetrating those barriers.
12:29We continue to hunt and kill mine storage facilities and naval ammunition depots.
12:34We continue to hunt and kill afloat assets, including more than 120 vessels and 44 mine layers, and the pressure
12:42will continue.
12:43We're flying further to the east now and penetrating deeper into Iranian airspace to hunt and kill one-way attack
12:50garrisons,
12:51destroying Iran's ability to project power outside of its borders.
12:55The A-10 Warthog is now in the fight across the southern flank and is hunting and killing fast attack
13:02watercraft in the Straits of Hormuz.
13:04In addition, AH-64 Apaches have joined the fight on the southern flank, and they continue to work on the
13:12southern side,
13:13and that includes some of our allies who are using Apaches to handle one-way attack drones.
13:19In Iraq, AH-64s have been striking against Iranian-aligned militia groups to make sure that we suppress any threat
13:28in Iraq against U.S. forces or U.S. interests.
13:33And we remain focused on pursuit of any platform that Iran could field to harm Americans or our partners.
13:41Last Friday, Admiral Cooper and the CENTCOM team conducted precision strikes against more than 90 targets on Karg Island,
13:48which included all of their military-only infrastructure, which included air defenses, naval base, mine storage and deployment facilities.
13:58And as the Secretary mentioned, we continue to strike against Iran's defense industrial base, and will continue to do so.
14:05Today, I want to continue my theme of talking about members of our incredible joint force.
14:11Today, I want to talk about some exceptional airmen who are engaged in the fight daily.
14:16United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard crews within our bomber force.
14:22The B-1s, B-2s, and B-52s, and the airmen on the ground who maintain and load these weapon
14:29systems.
14:29They are the backbone of America's long-range strike capability, and their contributions to Epic Fury have been decisive.
14:38Assigned to STRATCOM under Admiral Rich Correll and supported by TRANSCOM, the tanker force that we've talked about,
14:45under the command of General Randall Reed, every mission is designed to achieve overwhelming outcomes on behalf of the United
14:54States and our allies.
14:55Last weekend, I had the chance to go out and see some of our deployed bomber forces, the B-1
15:01and B-52 crews.
15:03And I had a chance to sit down with some young aviators and maintainers and ask them,
15:08How do you feel? Tell me about your typical day.
15:11And these are crews comprised of between two and five airmen.
15:15Two on the B-2s, five on the B-52s, and four in the B-1s out there.
15:25Some of these Americans are in their early or mid-20s, and we give them the gift of this incredible
15:32responsibility.
15:33Hundreds of thousands of pounds of aircraft, and they take off and go do our work as required.
15:39Their mission actually begins the day prior when they're given a target or a bunch of targets.
15:46And they begin to study those targets.
15:47Look at what are the effects required.
15:49What are the weapons required to get there?
15:51How will we program these weapons?
15:53What is the weather?
15:54What is the tanker flow?
15:55It's an incredibly complex problem that we give each and every one of these crews.
16:00And they work it over the period of 24 hours prior, get some rest, and then step out the door
16:06to go fly.
16:07The last thing they do is they check all of their equipment, their oxygen masks, survival gear, load pistols, and
16:13get ready to go.
16:14They crank the jets about an hour prior to take off and then launch into the daylight, doing their pre
16:20-flight checks.
16:21And as the kids say, lock in and prepare to go to war, sometimes on a long and stressful journey.
16:27During the flight, they're surrounded by technology and capabilities, and they'll do multiple aerial refueling efforts across tankers on the
16:38way to the AOR area of responsibility, either coming from the states or coming from a forward deployed basing.
16:45And I will tell you, as a fighter pilot, getting gas is a lot easier in an F-16 than
16:50it is in a B-1, B-2, or a B-52, where you are handling this airplane.
16:57It is a physical thing, unlike a fighter that's a lot easier.
17:01And they stay on that boom for sometimes up to 30 minutes, taking hundreds of thousands of pounds of gas.
17:08It is a physical, demanding thing to take gas.
17:12And they do it multiple times on the way there, and they do it multiple times on the way home.
17:18As they enter the operating area, they bring the entirety of America's joint force together to go do the things
17:24that we've tasked them to do, to put bombs on time, on target, with the proper effects.
17:30And I know they're feeling a range of emotions, but the thing the American people should take away from it
17:36is they're filled with a focus that is incredibly impressive.
17:39And they have fear, of course, but their bigger fear is, dear God, please don't let me screw this up.
17:46The warrior's prayer that we all have in our souls.
17:50In the days of Epic Fury, they were shooting, as we've talked about in this room, a lot of standoff
17:55weapons.
17:56Now we've switched and rolled, as I mentioned last week, to stand-in weapons.
18:01And behind each and every one of them are incredible maintainers and weapons builders who go out there and make
18:09sure these aircraft and their weapons systems are ready to go.
18:12These airplanes are so big that they're not in hangars.
18:16They're out in the cold, out in the snow, out in the rain.
18:19The bombs are being built outside for protection and to make sure that it's safe.
18:24And they do it 24-7, 365.
18:27It's not comfortable work, but when you go spend just a minute with these incredibly young Americans who are so
18:34motivated,
18:35you cannot come away from that exchange not being hopeful for America's future.
18:41It is simply awesome.
18:43And we hand these Americans, young Americans, incredible and weighty responsibility, and they deliver every single time.
18:53Quietly, with professionalism and humility, doing the things that we ask them to do.
19:00In conclusion, we will continue major combat operations.
19:04As the Secretary said, we continue to get busier.
19:07I know the Secretary and I share that we're incredibly proud of 2.8 million members of our joint force.
19:12I am personally and we are personally grateful for the tenacity and professionalism of the brave men and women who
19:20serve inside STRATCOM,
19:22CENTCOM, SPACECOM, CYBERCOM, TRANSCOM, and the rest of the joint force.
19:27And I'll close where I started.
19:29I ask today that we remember those six fallen that came home.
19:33They represent the best of our nation.
19:36For those families that are feeling the pain, know that we are with you and will remain with you.
19:42May we always prove worthy of their sacrifice.
19:45And I'll turn it back over to you, sir.
19:46Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
19:48I'll take a couple questions.
19:49Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
19:50Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
19:51Given the updated degradation and strike target numbers you laid out,
19:54how close would you say we are towards achieving the President's objectives?
19:58And what is the endgame of the operation without divulging any sensitive battle plans?
20:02Well, we wouldn't want to set a definitive timeframe on that, but as we've said, we're on plan.
20:07So we're looking at those metrics very closely, relaying that to the President and the national security team.
20:11But feel confident that as, again, we're more stand in means we're over the top, even further in.
20:18And we have even more of an exact sense of what we're striking and why and even more dynamically.
20:24Meaning, because the intelligence improves, we're able to more quickly identify targets when they, let's say they come out of
20:29an underground facility where they've been hiding and able to strike it before it strikes or right after it shoots.
20:35But we are very much on plan and that's why I want to speak to the American people here.
20:40You hear a lot of noise about widening or new missions or speculation about what we should or should not
20:45be doing.
20:46This is a clear set of objectives.
20:49The President has given us every capability we need to accomplish that.
20:52We've got the best in the world in uniform executing it on the ground.
20:55They believe in and are invested in this mission.
20:59And it will be at the President's choosing, ultimately, where we say, hey, we've achieved what we need to on
21:04behalf of the American people to ensure our security.
21:07So no time set on that, but we're very much on track.
21:11Absolutely.
21:12Yes, right here.
21:13Good morning, Mr. Secretary.
21:15David Zier, Real America's Voice News.
21:17What countries have been the most cooperative with us, including the Gulf states as Europe hedges?
21:23And I also wanted to ask you the Internet blackouts by the regime.
21:27It's been shut down for weeks.
21:29Is the U.S. military playing a role in fighting against the regime, blocking VPN networks and satellites and other
21:37things?
21:39Is there a role for the U.S. military there?
21:43Obviously, on the allies and partners side, Israel from day one has been an incredible and capable partner, willing and
21:50able.
21:50There's nothing like capabilities and partners that are able to use them.
21:55The Gulf states have stepped up incredibly.
21:57In fact, Iran's sort of reckless attempt to strike civilian infrastructure and other things has brought countries who maybe would
22:05have not been as all in as they are today squarely into our orbit.
22:10And we're proud to be defending with them, standing with them, you name it, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
22:18and others who have been right there.
22:19And we're grateful for that kind of support.
22:22As far as the Internet, we're watching the regime try to tighten its grip as much as possible.
22:27And we're obviously taking countermeasures, many of which we can't talk about here, to ensure that messaging is delivered, not
22:34just to the Iranian people writ large, but to the right audiences, certain audiences that need to hear certain things
22:40about what their fate might look like or what their choices are.
22:42So even though that regime is trying really hard to ensure the world can't see, right, they want to put
22:49out fake AI-generated images, which, by the way, sometimes our press happens to fall for, like the Abraham Lincoln
22:55on fire and turning around.
22:56These AI-generated images are meant to make it look like something's happening when the exact opposite is.
23:01So they make up fake reports and fake images to lie to their own people to try to make it.
23:07But even then, their own people can barely receive a lot of those messages and communicate because of the blackout
23:11that they've imposed upon them.
23:13But we work around that for sure.
23:16Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
23:18General, overnight Iran launched missiles across the Gulf.
23:21They managed to hit the Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea.
23:27What does it mean that they have that capability now, three weeks into the war?
23:32And, Mr. Secretary, you mentioned civilian infrastructure.
23:35Iran seems to be treating U.S. diplomatic outposts, embassies, consulates like they are legitimate, hard targets in the region
23:46now.
23:46What is the Pentagon doing to, I guess, secure those assets, stop those attacks?
23:52Absolutely.
23:53Thanks for the question on the missile strikes.
23:55You know, as we said and have always said clearly, they came into this fight with a lot of weapons.
24:01This is why we continue to be as aggressive and assertive as we can against their ballistic missile capability, both
24:10their medium-range ballistic missile capability and their short-range missile capability.
24:14So we are continuing to hunt and find them and kill them, and we will continue to do so.
24:21So they still retain some capability.
24:23And we have layered defenses throughout the region that will allow us to protect those.
24:28And we're working with our partners across the Gulf region to help them improve any defensive capabilities that they may
24:34need.
24:35To that point on capabilities, you know, Iran is an energy-rich country, could be, should be.
24:41Instead, like so many other places driven by a radical ideology, they've spent that money instead of investing in their
24:47people.
24:47And that's why you had millions of Iranians protesting because they felt like their condition quality of life didn't match
24:53what it could be or should be.
24:54And what was the Iranian state?
24:56There's a reason we call Iran the number one state sponsor of terrorism because they took the money they make
25:02and they invested in tunnels and they invested in missiles and they invested in launchers and UAVs.
25:07And we are destroying and degrading that in historic proportions, but it doesn't mean they won't still have some and
25:13try to hold people at issue, which is why we're fighting every single day to continue to compel.
25:18And you mentioned embassies and consulates.
25:20Unlike previous administrations, we are doubling and tripling down on ensuring that our people, regardless of their Department of War,
25:28Department of State, whatever they do, are secure in those facilities.
25:31And the best defense is a good offense. And so we're not we're not afraid to go after and kill
25:36anybody.
25:37And we have a lot of them attempting to target our diplomatic facilities around.
25:42You know, we're not we're not surprised that they would indiscriminately target. And we're still seeing that. Jerry.
25:49As part of the justification for the war against Iran, the White House has laid out in fairly comprehensive fashion
25:55that Iran, the Iranian regime's 47 years of terrorism aimed at the U.S., including pointing to the IRGC's provision
26:04of weapons and EFPs to help kill Americans in Iraq.
26:08The Pentagon in 2019 assessed Iran was responsible for the deaths of every 603 service members in Iraq.
26:15But there hasn't been a similar accounting public accounting by Iran's role helping the Taliban in Afghanistan.
26:24And that also hasn't been part of the White House's public argument.
26:27I was wondering if you could speak to Iran's role in helping the Taliban during the war in Afghanistan.
26:34And chairman, as as you and the secretary eloquently spoke about, 13 U.S. service members have been killed so
26:43far during Operation Epic Fury.
26:46I was wondering what lessons have been learned from those deaths, both from Iranian strikes from an aircraft refueling accident.
26:55How are those lessons being applied to the current conflict?
26:58And how are those lessons going to be applied to a potential conflict in Indo-Pacon?
27:04Well, thank you for the question.
27:05And it's true.
27:07In a town that can have a very short memory, President Trump does not.
27:11He remembers what this regime, Iranian regime, was founded on, what their declaration has been from the beginning.
27:18Death to America, death to Israel.
27:20They've stated that.
27:21They've intended to, in every way, try to accomplish that, killing Americans in any theater they can.
27:26They've been working on embassies for a long, for quite a long time.
27:30In Iraq, that was the deadliest weapon was the EFP, the Explosively Formed Penetrator.
27:34I was there when that tactic and technique started to emerge.
27:38And the realization was it wasn't just jihadis putting together 155 rounds, daisy chained.
27:44And it was an entire state, a country with its apparatus, able to mold steel in a way that was
27:50specifically designed to penetrate American armor and kill Americans.
27:54This was not, oh, maybe we send them a couple of thoughts about how to build a bomb.
27:58This was Iran specifically passing technology and wherewithal and personnel into Iraq to kill Americans specifically.
28:07I know the number is said to be 600.
28:08A lot of us think it's higher than that, given the amount of capability they brought in.
28:12So they have been at war with us, whether we acknowledge it or not, for 47 years.
28:17The same goes in Afghanistan.
28:19Name the Islamist enemy, whether they are Sunni or Shia, because this is a Shia regime, Sunni or Shia.
28:25And Iran's been willing to harbor them as long as that group is willing to try to kill Americans.
28:31So the enemy of their enemy has been their friend as well in the Islamist world.
28:34So Iran, whether it's Iraq, whether it's Afghanistan, whether it's around the world, has been targeting Americans.
28:41And what they wanted in this context and what President Trump would not tolerate is a regime of that nature
28:47being closer and closer to nuclear capabilities,
28:50a capability they would have said they would want to use.
28:53And we believe what our enemies say they would do if they got the most dangerous weapon in the world.
28:58So it's been across every theater that Iran's been been a threat to America.
29:02And sometimes we have to remind folks of that.
29:04But thank goodness we have a commander in chief who, on behalf of this country, has internalized that and said,
29:11hey, we're going to do something about it.
29:13Jerry, I do want to talk about the lessons learned question because it's important to me.
29:18I won't share particular tactical lessons and the KC 135 incident is under investigation.
29:26But I do want to talk about how I think about this and how we think about it.
29:31And this is something that I'm pretty passionate about.
29:34I believe the joint force has to be a very fast learning organization early, often and always.
29:42And so in each case, both at the strategic, operational and tactical level, we've charged the joint force to look
29:50at themselves and say, what was our plan?
29:53Well, first, did we have a plan?
29:54Yes or no.
29:55The answer is always yes, because we plan for literally everything.
29:58Did we execute our plan?
30:00Yes or no.
30:01If we did, did it work?
30:02If not, why not?
30:03If we didn't execute our plan but did something better, what's the lesson learned associated with that?
30:10And then how do we quickly capture those lessons after every loss or every engagement and quickly adopt those lessons
30:19and then share them across the entirety of the joint force?
30:24And inside the joint staff, we've tasked our J-7 directorate under the lead of General Lieutenant General Liszewski, a
30:33United States Marine, to be extremely entrepreneurial in harvesting and capturing those lessons in a proactive and not reactive way.
30:41In fact, we've got teammates from the J-7 who are now spread out across the CENTCOM theater both here
30:49in the States and forward to ensure that in every opportunity we do not miss a chance to grab that
30:56lesson and quickly accelerate it into the practice that we adopt inside the joint force so that if there's a
31:03loss or if there's something that we can learn from,
31:05that we learn it not only in the CENTCOM AOR, but we adapt it across all of the combatant commands,
31:12not just into PACOM.
31:13And it's across all of the war fighting functions.
31:17I've asked them to look rigorously to check our egos at the door, to remember this is about what's right,
31:24not who's right, and to be clinical around the way we look at lessons learned, because we owe it to
31:30the force to do that.
31:31Thanks for that question.
31:32Absolutely.
31:32Brown Jack at the back.
31:34Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
31:35Jonathan Dray with Roku Politics.
31:37As you've said, at the end of this war, Iran will be without a missile or drone capability, a navy
31:41or the ability to make nuclear weapons.
31:44Since the largest threat and sponsor of terror in the region will be incapacitated, are there plans to move assets
31:50and troops out of the Middle East?
31:51I guess in a perfect world, a year after the war has ended, what does the military presence in the
31:57Middle East look like compared to before the war?
32:00Well, I appreciate the question.
32:01I do think when you address a real threat head on, it creates new options on the other side.
32:09I think what President Trump refuses to do, which too often this town does, is just sit in the status
32:14quo.
32:15Oh, nobody can do about that.
32:16They've got too much capability.
32:18What if this happens?
32:19What if that happens?
32:20He instead says, what's in the interest of the American people?
32:23It's going to take some courage.
32:24It's going to take some capabilities.
32:25We're going to have to gather some forces there in order to do it.
32:28We're not going to tell people how many or how long or what we're willing to do or what we're
32:32not willing to do.
32:32But if you do that and do that decisively, then out the other end is a recognition that it opens
32:38the aperture of what's possible.
32:40I mean, President Trump did the same thing in creating an opportunity for the Abraham Accords.
32:44Now you've got a situation where a lot of those countries are coming alongside us recognizing the threat of Iran.
32:49So I think our posture in the future will be based first and foremost on our own national security, power
32:56projection, the ability to defend our people and our interests.
33:00But no doubt, working alongside our partners, the President will look at what makes the most sense going forward.
33:05I appreciate that question.
33:06Yes, right here.
33:07Is that the policy of the U.S. military now?
33:10Thank you, Secretary.
33:12Two questions for you.
33:13The Vice President has often emphasized that the goal of this war is to denuclearize Iran while also avoiding a
33:21larger quagmire.
33:22I know that you touched on this.
33:24I'd like you to expand on how do you do that?
33:26How do you denuclearize the country while also avoiding this, you know, forever war?
33:32And then there was a report last night that the Pentagon asked the White House for $200 billion for Iran
33:38war supplemental.
33:39Can you confirm this and can you explain why a package this large is necessary?
33:46Well, first of all, none of this would have been possible without Midnight Hammer, without that audacious mission with very
33:51clear goals that did obliterate their ability to enrich and the capabilities they have in those facilities.
33:55So it created the conditions for Iran to step forward and say, OK, you can reach out and touch us
34:01like that in our nuclear ambitions.
34:02You can see that we're still trying to do this. Let's make a deal.
34:06And President Trump put our two best folks on it, Steve and Jared, and they worked diligently, earnestly.
34:11I watched it to try to pursue that deal.
34:13And ultimately, I think the whole time Iran sort of said, well, we'll talk as we build more missiles and
34:19as we build more UAVs and we create this conventional umbrella so that if we chose to, we could try
34:25to reconstitute the program.
34:27And sort of naively thinking that President Trump wouldn't do something about it.
34:31And that's why, as Secretary Rubio has said and I've said, it's the conventional umbrella that was growing and growing
34:37and growing that was meant to protect that nuclear capability.
34:40So you had to address both what happened with Midnight Hammer and what happened with that as well.
34:45As far as $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously.
34:50It takes it takes money to kill bad guys.
34:54So we're going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what's been done,
35:00for what we may have to do in the future.
35:03Ensure that our ammunition is everything's refilled and not just refilled, but above and beyond.
35:09I mean, President Trump, as he said, rebuilt the military in his first term.
35:12Didn't think he'd use it as dynamically in his second, but he had.
35:15So thank goodness he did that.
35:17And an investment like this is meant to say, hey, we'll replace anything that was spent.
35:21And now that we're reviving our defense industrial base and rebuilding the arsenal of freedom and cutting deals like our
35:25great deputy secretary is here is doing long lead times on exquisite munitions.
35:30We're going to be refilled faster than anyone imagined.
35:33And I think, you know, we're also still dealing with the environment that Joe Biden created, which was which was
35:40depleting those stock holes and not sending them to our own military, but to Ukraine, which is when every time
35:47we reach back and look at any sort of a challenge we have.
35:50It goes back to, well, send it to Ukraine.
35:53Ultimately, we think this should be these these munitions are better spent in our own interests at this point.
35:59And this kind of funding bill is going to ensure that we're properly funded going forward.
36:04We'll take we'll take one more.
36:05Thanks, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
36:07Jordan Conradson with the Gateway Pundit.
36:09So with the strike yesterday on South Park's gas field, you know, if the U.S. didn't know about it
36:16or didn't approve of it, it kind of seems like a trend of Israel apparently pursuing their own objectives over
36:23U.S. objectives.
36:25I'm not sure if you agree with that, but the president has said he doesn't want to hit Iran's oil
36:29infrastructure right now.
36:31As you said, the U.S. avoided this on Park Island. Oil is nearing one hundred and twenty dollars.
36:36Why are we helping Israel prosecute this war if they're going to pursue their own objectives?
36:40We hold the cards.
36:42We have objectives.
36:44Those objectives are clear.
36:46We have allies pursuing objectives as well.
36:49And the truth speaks for itself.
36:51I mean, President Trump was very clear about that.
36:53Iran has weaponized energy for decades.
36:56Israel clearly sent a warning.
36:58And POTUS has made it clear.
37:00Very clear.
37:01Iran knows when you hit Karg Island and hit military capabilities on Karg Island, which is the only thing we
37:08hit.
37:09We can hold anything at issue.
37:11Anything.
37:12The United States military controls the fate of that country.
37:15Iran has the ability to make the right choices.
37:18It should not, going forward, target Arab allies, Arab countries, trying to create pain, the pain that they created themselves.
37:38the environmental Earth
37:38You should go into two categories.
37:39Mississippi.
Comments