US can’t block all Iranian attacks despite air superiority, admits Hegseth

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged Wednesday that some Iranian air attacks may still hit their targets even as he asserted that US military superiority is quickly giving it control of the Islamic Republics airspaceThe US has spared no expense or capability to enhance air defence systems to protect American forces and allies in the Middle East Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon days after the US and Israel attacked Iran in a war that has widened throughout the regionThis does not mean we can stop everything but we ensured that the maximum possible defense and maximum possible force protection was set up before we went on offense he said The acknowledgement that additional drone or missile strikes in the region could cause damage and harm to troops comes as President Donald Trump and top defence leaders have warned that additional American casualties were expected in a conflict that could last monthsUS service members remain in harms way and we must be cleareyed that the risk is still high Gen Dan Caine chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at the same press conference Six soldiers were killed when an Iranian drone strike hit an operations center Sunday in the heart of a civilian port in Kuwait miles away from the main Army base The husband of one of the slain soldiers who was part of a supply and logistics unit based in Iowa says the center was a shipping containerstyle building and had no defencesCaine declined to answer a reporters question about the possibility of deploying ground troops in Iran something that President Donald Trump has not ruled out Im not going to comment on US boots on the ground Caine said I think thats a question for policymakers And I dont make policy I execute policyHegseth also signalled a possible longer time frame for the conflict than has previously been floated by the Trump administration saying it could last eight weeks but that the US has the munitions and the equipment to beat Iran in a war of attrition He declined to set a specific time range saying the specific duration of the war would depend on how it unfolds You can say four weeks but it could be six it could be eight it could be three he said Ultimately we set the pace and the tempo The enemy is off balance and were going to keep them off balanceMore forces continue to arrive in the region including jet fighters and bombers Hegseth said and the US will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed Supplies of weaponry arent an issue Hegseth and Caine said with Hegseth noting that the military used more advanced weapons at the start of the campaign but was switching to gravity bombs now that the US gains control of Iranian skies Stockpiles of the advanced weapons remain extremely strong the defense secretary saidCaine said the US has sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand both on the offence and defence but noted that the military would not be releasing quantities citing operational security So our air defences and that of our allies have plenty of runway Hegseth said We can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need toTehran has vowed to completely destroy the Middle Easts military and economic infrastructure signalling the war was nowhere near over and could expand further President Donald Trump said this week the campaign are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared to go far longer than thatThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever