(LEAD) Pentagon chief says operation against Iran is neither 'endless' nor 'overnight'

▲ 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)

▲ Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine holds a briefing at the Pentagon near Washington on March 2, 2026, in this photo released by Reuters. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) US-Iran-operation

(LEAD) Pentagon chief says operation against Iran is neither 'endless' nor 'overnight'

(ATTN: ADDS photo, more info in paras 3, 12-23)

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 would not 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 during the operation, codenamed "Operation Epic Fury," while the Iranian Red Crescent reportedly said more than 550 people had 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 the objectives of the ongoing operations would 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 and gritty 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."

Asked if there are currently American troops in Iran, Hegseth said, "No."

"But we are not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do," he said, noting that specifying details about how the U.S. war plans will play out is "foolishness."

"President Trump ensures that our enemies understand we'll go as far as we need to go to advance American interests. We are not dumb about it," he said.

"You don't have to roll 200,000 people in there and stay for 20 years. We've proven that you can achieve objectives that advance American interests without being foolish about it."

The Pentagon chief defended the military operation against Tehran, saying that Trump and other top U.S. officials "bent over backwards for real diplomacy, offering pathway after pathway to peace."

"The former regime had every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal, but Tehran was not negotiating," he said.

"They were stalling, buying time to reload their missile stockpiles and restart their nuclear ambitions. Their goal (was to) hold us hostage, threatening to strike our forces."

He went on to say that the military operation was "not a so-called regime change war."

"But the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it today."

Caine said that the U.S. military operation struck more than 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours, calling the operation a "massive, overwhelming attack across all domains of warfare."

"CENTCOM's focus was systematic targeting of Iranians, command and control infrastructure, naval forces, ballistic missile sites and intelligence infrastructure designed to daze and confuse them," the general said.

In the operation, more than 100 aircraft were mobilized, including fighter jets, tankers, airborne early warning aircraft, attack bombers and unmanned platforms, he said.

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