Pete Hegseth, the Minister of the U.S. Ministry of National Defense (War Department), said on the 4th (local time) that the United States is winning against Iran in the military operation against Iran now in its fifth day.
Minister Hegseth and Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said in a briefing at the U.S. Ministry of National Defense headquarters that, under the direct command of President Trump, the United States is winning decisively, destructively and mercilessly.
He added that it has been only four days since the operation began, but the results are not only astonishing but historic, and that only the United States can lead this.
Minister Hegseth said that when the Israeli military (IDF) with tremendous destructive power is added to this, the combination is pure destruction for Iran's radical Islamist hostile forces, adding that they are finished, and they know it, or at least will soon.
He said the two most powerful air forces in the world will completely dominate Iranian airspace, and it will be uncontested airspace. He said this domination will be completed within days.
This is interpreted to mean that Iran's air defense network has been neutralized, allowing U.S. and Israeli forces to move through Iranian airspace virtually without obstruction and carry out operations such as destroying missile bases and the defense industry.
Minister Hegseth said Iranian leaders will look up at the sky every minute of every day and witness only our and Israel's air power.
Minister Hegseth also said the day before that a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. He said a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship that had thought it was safe in international waters. It was sunk by a torpedo, he said, calling it the first case of an enemy ship being sunk by a torpedo since World War II.
He also said they killed the commander of an Iranian unit that had attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Caine said that as of this morning, U.S. Central Command is making steady progress, and that the number of theater ballistic missiles launched by Iran has decreased 86% compared with the first day of fighting and 23% in just the past 24 hours.
He also said that Iran's one-way (suicide-type) attack drone launches have decreased 73% compared with the initial days of the battle.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Caine, addressing concerns that a decline in U.S. ammunition stockpiles might constrain military operations, said precision munitions necessary to carry out current missions are sufficiently secured for both offense and defense.