▲ U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon near Washington on March 2, 2026, in this photo released by the Associated Press. (Yonhap)

US-Iran-operation

Pentagon chief says Iran operation is neither 'endless' nor 'overnight'

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that ongoing military operations against Iran would not end up being "endless," but achieving America's combat objectives won't happen "overnight," as he referred to the conflict as a "big battle space."

Hegseth made the remarks in a press conference alongside Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine at the Pentagon, after the United States and Israel kicked off a surprise coordinated attack on the Islamic Republic on Saturday, which led to the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The U.S. military confirmed four combat fatalities on its side, while the Iranian Red Crescent reportedly said 555 people have been killed in Iran.

"This is not Iraq. This is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does the president," Hegseth said.

"He called the last 20 years of nation-building wars dumb, and he's right. This is the opposite," he added. "This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission: Destroy the missile threat, destroy the Navy. No nukes."

Hegseth accused Iran of building a "conventional shield" for its "nuclear blackmail ambitions" as he pointed out that achieving objectives of the ongoing operations will not happen overnight, stressing that President Donald Trump sets the operational tempo "on his terms."

"We are aggressively pushing into that airspace over that southern flank to ensure that we control it, and we destroy everything that moves, that would attempt to shoot us. Think of it as shooting the archer instead of the arrows," he said.

"That's where we want to be, and we have the kind of exquisite intelligence to get over the top, find that and destroy it. (It) won't happen overnight. This is a big battle space with a lot of capabilities."

The top U.S. general also said the military operation in progress is a "major combat operation."

"This is not a single overnight operation. The military objectives that CENTCOM and the Joint Force have been tasked with will take some time to achieve, and in some cases, will be difficult ... work," Gen. Caine said. CENTCOM is short for U.S. Central Command.

"We expect to take additional losses, and as always, we will work to minimize U.S. losses."

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