Defense Chief: Iran May Land Some Strikes Despite US Air Control

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth admitted Wednesday that Iranian attacks could still reach their targets even as the US gains air superiority. The conflict may extend to eight weeks, with six American soldiers already killed in a drone strike in Kuwait.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth admitted Wednesday that Iranian aerial assaults might still reach their intended targets, despite his claims that American military dominance is rapidly securing control over the Islamic Republic’s skies.

Speaking to media at the Pentagon, Hegseth emphasized that the United States has invested every available resource and military asset to strengthen air defense networks protecting American troops and regional partners following recent coordinated strikes by the US and Israel against Iran in the expanding regional conflict.

“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.

His admission that future drone or rocket attacks across the region might inflict casualties and damage comes as President Donald Trump and senior military officials have cautioned that more American deaths are anticipated in a confrontation that may continue for months.

American military personnel “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, stated during the same briefing.

A recent Iranian drone attack claimed six soldiers’ lives when it struck an operations facility Sunday at a civilian port in Kuwait, located miles from the primary Army installation. According to the spouse of one fallen soldier from an Iowa-based supply and logistics unit, the targeted facility was a shipping container-style structure lacking protective measures.

Hegseth also indicated the confrontation might extend beyond previous administration estimates, suggesting it could span eight weeks while emphasizing America’s ammunition stockpiles and equipment capacity to prevail in prolonged warfare. He refused to establish definitive timelines, noting the conflict’s duration would depend on how events develop.

“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.”

Additional military assets continue deploying to the region, including fighter aircraft and bombers, Hegseth reported, with the US committed to “take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed.”

Iranian leadership has promised to completely devastate Middle Eastern military and economic infrastructure, indicating the warfare remains far from concluded and may broaden significantly.

President Trump stated earlier this week that military operations would likely continue four to five weeks but expressed readiness “to go far longer than that.”