BREAKING: Hegseth says Iran will see 'most intense day of strikes' as Operation Epic Fury continues

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said that the most intense day of strikes in Iran will be coming on Tuesday. This comes as the war in Iran has entered its tenth day after the US and Israel conducted strikes in Iran on February 28. "Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran, the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligent, more refined and better than ever," Hegseth said in a press briefing Tuesday morning.

"On day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives, which are the same as the day I gave my first briefing here on Operation Epic Fury. They're straightforward, and we are executing with ruthless precision. One, destroy their missile stockpiles, their missile launchers and their defense industrial base, missiles and their ability to make them. Two, destroy their navy. And three, permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons, forever," Hegseth added.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine then paid tribute to fallen US soldiers who died overseas, including Army soldier Sgt. Benjamin Pennington of Kentucky, who was killed by Iranian attacks, as well as National Guard soldier Maj. Sorffly Davius of Queens, NY, who suffered from a medical episode in Kuwait.

Caine added that the US has struck "more than 5,000 targets" in Iran and that the US has struck "several one-way drone factories to get at the heart of their autonomous capability." He emphasized that the military has been targeting "centers of gravity to get upstream of the shooters out in the field in order to deny them the ability to continue to generate those one-way attack drones."

Caine also highlighted the "unsung heroes" of "yellow shirt" naval personnel who operate on top of aircraft carriers. "Imagine you're standing on that aircraft carrier flight deck. There's 30 knots of wind in your face. The deck is slippery, covered in grease. It's noisy. There are propellers spinning, there's jet blast everywhere. The helicopters are running.

"Your head is on a swivel, and you're trying to direct a multi-million dollar fighter into a one-foot square box so that those naval aviators can be shot off into the black of night to go do America's work. Those jets are fully loaded with missiles and bombs, and they are a world class team combined with the naval aviation and the aviators in those jets, this beautiful symphony of American spirit is the definition of perfectly organized chaos, and these crews do it every single time the carrier is at work," he said.