US to 'surge firepower over Iran' after sinking 30 ships in just three days
Hegseth echoed sentiments from President Trump that "the big wave" of attacks is coming to the conflict soon.
US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth has warned that the amount of firepower deployed in Iran is set to "surge dramatically" in a press conference.
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Hegseth, speaking from US Central Command, echoed sentiments from President Donald Trump that "the big wave" of attacks is coming to the conflict soon.
He told reporters that the war is "advancing decisively", adding: "Iran is hoping we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad calculation".
The Department of Defense chief also boasted that the US has "no shortage of munitions" and can sustain its campaign as long as it needs to.
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"We have only just begun to fight, and fight decisively," he added.
Seemingly referring to UK and Spanish forces denying access to bases in the opening salvos of the conflict, the former Fox News analyst said the situation was "unfortunate".
"But we got there. We got there, and that's now part of the way that we're operationalising bomber runs. It's more fighter squadrons, it's more capabilities, it's more defensive capabilities, and it's more bomber pulses more frequently."
In a stark warning, Hegseth then declared: "The amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically."
During the same press conference, the head of the US Central Command said the US has struck nearly 200 targets in Iran over the last 72 hours and sunk 30 of its ships.
Admiral Brad Cooper told reporters: "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."
Cooper added that Iranian ballistic missile attacks have dipped by 90 percent while drone attacks had plummeted by 83 percent since the first day of the war.