By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and DAVID KLEPPER
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged Wednesday that some Iranian air attacks may still hit their targets even as he asserted that U.S. military superiority is quickly giving it control of the Islamic Republic’s airspace.
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“This 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 defense leaders have warned that additional American casualties were expected in a conflict that could last months.
U.S. service members “remain in harm’s way, and we must be clear-eyed 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 container-style building and had no defenses.
Hegseth also signaled 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 U.S. 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.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine take questions during a press briefing at the Pentagon, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Staff members watch as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, reflected in a window, speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, speaks during a news briefing at the Pentagon, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Konstantin Toropin) A Deptartment of Defense map titled, Operation EPIC FURY Timeline – First 100 Hours, is displayed during a news conference with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, at the Pentagon, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Konstantin Toropin) Show Caption1 of 4Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine take questions during a press briefing at the Pentagon, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Expand“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 we’re going to keep them off balance.”
More forces continue to arrive in the region, including jet fighters and bombers, Hegseth said, and the U.S. “will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed.”
Tehran has vowed to completely destroy the Middle East’s military and economic infrastructure — signaling 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 that.”
Associated Press writers Ben Finley and Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.
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