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Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine Hold Press Conference; Analysis of the Hegseth-Caine Press Conference. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 04, 2026 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:30:00]

GEN. DAN CAINE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: To coordinate, integrate and synchronize activities while maintaining separate efforts.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: And when I said a breath of fresh air, I really meant it. Usually it's us with a -- some ancillary benefits from allies who are maybe willing but not as capable. When you have both the will and the capability of an ally that can really bring things to bear, we take certain targets, they take certain targets, and we coordinate it, it has incredible effects.

Right here.

REPORTER: Secretary Hegseth, with respect to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' statement that the Iran mission will end in failure, what kind of message does that send to our enemies, and what does it do to the motivation of our troops?

HEGSETH: Well, I've been through that movie before with the Democrats rooting against the country. Our generation saw that in our battlefields. I think it's pretty unprecedented and unfortunate that it would occur four days into an operation, whereas the chairman laid out, America's best are operating in an incredibly challenging environment where they're having incredible success, but they're meeting a determined adversary. And I would -- he's been privy to briefs that we provided. He knows how effective this has been. He's being disingenuous, which I'm -- which we're used to.

Right here.

REPORTER: Thank you for taking my question. Heather Mullins, Lindell TV.

One of the questions I have is just really regarding the intelligence that indicated that this was something the U.S. had to get involved with at the time that you guys did. We had operation Midnight Hammer back in June. We obliterated their nuclear facilities. What was the intelligence that suggested that somehow they became a threat once again that required us to get involved with Operation Epic Fury?

HEGSETH: I appreciate the question. The evidence in front of us since the 12-day war was that Iran had no intention of actually negotiating a nuclear deal that truly meant they had -- did not have a pathway to a nuclear bomb. And they had a moment, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, two the best negotiators in the world, poured into that negotiation, giving them every single possible opportunity to release that ambition, and they didn't. And the intelligence that we saw, saw they didn't intend to do it in good faith. That they had the intentions eventually to get to a place where they could have that -- a conventional shield to block their nuclear capabilities, as I talked about yesterday.

So, I would separate the "what" from the "when" a little bit. The "what" is, they've been killing Americans for 47 years. They have thousands of missiles pointed at us. They have ongoing nuclear ambitions, and they're at the weakest they've ever been.

So, the "when" became, in particular, hey, what makes the most sense to do this, ensure -- to ensure that the narrow objectives we have of ensuring they never have a nuclear weapon have a maximum effect?

Yes, right here.

REPORTER: Thank you, Secretary Hegseth. I have two questions. First, what is your message to Iran's allies, namely Russia and China, who have called for an immediate end to hostilities?

HEGSETH: I don't have a message for them, and they're not really a factor here. And where our issue is not with them, it's with the nuclear ambitions of Iran.

REPORTER: Absolutely. And are any so-called fully autonomous weapons or other A.I. tools being used in Operation Epic Fury?

HEGSETH: We've got a lot of autonomous systems or systems that are -- that drones and others incorporated with smart A.I. aspects to them, but a lot of which I can't talk about here. Yes.

Yellow, right there. Yes, ma'am.

REPORTER: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. As you know, China is accusing the United States of invading in Iran, a sovereign nation. And the North Korea, which cooperates with Iran on nuclear development, has declared its commitment to protecting Iran. What is the United States' strategic response to this? And I have a second one. How many allies joined with the United States to fighting against Iran? Do we have any number?

HEGSETH: Well, I think what you're seeing right now is a response in the region to the belligerence of Iran and the willingness of them to target civilian airports, civilian hotels, civilian locations, civilian oil infrastructure, of their gulf neighbors, who would have preferred not to be in conflict, didn't want to, but now realize that this is something that has to be dealt with. So, whether it's UAE, or Qatar, or Bahrain, or Kuwait, or Saudi, on different levels they're reaching out to us, whether they're going on offense, which they are, whether they're giving us additional access, basing and overflight. We are getting -- we're working very closely and collaborating with them.

Also on air defenses. The air defense capabilities of those countries are significant. And when combined with ours, and we coordinate, it brings simplicity to the shock doctrine so we make sure we're using less munitions but being more effective with what we shoot at.

And as it pertains to other countries, I'll sort of give the same question, they don't really bear on the case of Iran.

[08:35:03]

We're going to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions. And that will send plenty of signals in the process.

REPORTER: Well, (INAUDIBLE) about the notes (INAUDIBLE)?

HEGSETH: Right there. Purple.

(CROSS TALK)

REPORTER: Secretary, are you going to help the Americans on (ph) the region? Is the military going to help --

REPORTER: Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Mr. Secretary. I have two questions. One question for you on the other question for Mr. Chairman.

You ruled out that you're not engaging with the Kurdish forces, Iranian Kurdish forces, to inclusion from the Kurdistan region to Iran. But now, and today, Iranian said that under threat from the Kurdistan region they said clearly, if there is any incursion from the Kurdistan region, they will attack all the Kurdistan region and go to war with the Kurdistan region. What's your comment on that?

And a question for Mr. Chairman. Given comments that the U.S. forces might be deployed if necessary, under what specific conditions would you determine that deploying U.S. boots on the ground is necessary, and how would such a decision support and advance your stated strategic goals?

CAINE: Well, I'm not going to comment on U.S. boots on the ground. I think that's a question for policy makers. And I don't make policy, I execute policy.

I will say on the question in the back corner about helping Americans get out. First, it's a great opportunity to encourage everybody in the region to go to the State Department and register. Secretary Rubio has been trying to get that word out. And I'd ask you to help us with that, to have folks register.

We've also opened up space available seats as C-17s and other airplanes come in to try to help folks get out. But that's really a State Department matter. But to answer your question, that's what we've been doing.

HEGSETH: Absolutely. Last question right here.

(CROSS TALK) REPORTER: Secretary Hegseth, thank you. Reagan Reese with "The Daily Caller." You touched on this in your opening remarks, but I'm hoping you could expand on it a bit. It's been reported that Iran might be trying to outlast our ability to intercept their missiles. It sounds like you guys are saying they don't have the ability to do so. Is that the case? Can we -- can they outlast us in their ability to do that?

HEGSETH: The -- Iran cannot outlast us. We are going to ensure, through violence of action, and our offensive capabilities and our defensive capabilities, as I said, that we set the tone and the tempo of this fight. That's why stories and speculation about different things that try to make it look like we're limited in what we can do. The only limits we have on this is President Trump's desire to achieve specific effects on behalf of the American people. And that's why we don't talk about -- we can say four weeks, but it could be six, it could be eight, it could be three. Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo. The enemy is going to -- is off balance and we're going to keep them off balance. And we know their ability to shoot versus our ability to defend. That difference gets wider and wider every day. Our defense gets better. Their offensive capabilities diminish.

As we are going into ammunitions that we, as we said, have tens of thousands of and can drop unlimited supplies on, with even more effects than the standoff munitions we have now, which is why, when we say the throttle's going up, the throttle's going up and it's going to stay on high.

Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.

(CROSS TALK)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, just wrapping there, the press briefing from the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, on the latest, as they say, we are 103 hours into this war.

Pete Hegseth laying out, as he says, the update from him is, the Iranian air force is no more. The Iranian navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. And also laying out, and showing a video of, they say, an American submarine sinking an Iranian warship in the -- in international waters in the Indian Ocean.

Let's bring in -- we have a whole slate of experts to join us right now.

Brigadier General, you were on with me just before we went to this briefing. One thing that General Caine said in laying out where they are at this moment, he said, "CENTCOM is now shifting to stand in precision strikes over Iran from standoff munitions to stand in munitions." What is he saying?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): What he's saying is that we're running out of precision guided munitions. That's what he's saying. That we're going to take advantage of our air superiority, our ability to loiter over targets and use other type munitions. In fact, the secretary of defense even talked about using dumb bombs, gravity- based bombs and not laser-guided bombs. But we're running out of -- and it was very clear to me when he makes a reference to using gravity bombs like that.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: So, when he says -- I just want to follow up, when he says that -- when you're saying that they're running out of these precision munitions. And then the question was asked, can the U.S. outlast Iran's capabilities? Pete Hegseth, the defense minister, said, yes, absolutely we can. Is that how you see it?

ANDERSON: No, that's not how I see it at all. I mean, you know, it's going to take an awful lot to dig these people out. I mean what we saw today was essentially the same briefing that was given in 2003 by Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, you know, after -- when we launched Operation Iraqi Freedom.

[08:40:08]

I mean there was still no clear definition of the objective. Now, Dan Caine did talk about destroying the ability to project power as a military objective. And that made a little bit of sense. But what we saw with the secretary of defense was a tough, macho guy talking about killing and shamelessly sucking up to the POTUS but he really wasn't giving any specifics on really what the long-term objectives are. And I would say that we're going to be in the same situation we were in Iraq. We're going to be able to knock out their defensive capabilities, their offensive capabilities, establish air superiority, but they're going to go underground. These are tough, resilient people. They're going to be able to outlast us. And if we think we're going to be able to bomb them into submission from the air, somebody's smoking something.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: David Sanger, there were almost two briefings going on there, which is the same thing we saw the other day there. You have the briefing from the defense secretary, and you have the briefing from the chair of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine. And Dan Caine laid out methodically and very professionally, I think, what has been done so far and what will change from a military standpoint in the effort that he lays out clearly to destroy Iran's missiles, destroy Iran's navy, their fighting capability, and to make sure they can't rebuild their nuclear arsenal.

Secretary Hegseth seems to have a bit of a different mission here that is much more political, appealing to the president's base and whatnot. But explain, if you can, what you continue to hear about the idea of regime change. Israel has made crystal clear it's trying to knock out Iranian leadership every day. Every day that is a goal of theirs. And Secretary Hegseth wants to create some space there. So, what did you see in that?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: John, I think you've got it exactly right. There was a moment amid the bravado after he said the Iranians are toast and, you know, other things like that, where he did say, we are going to go out and hunt down all of their military leadership. And he seemed to suggest some of the political leadership. And frequently it's one in the same. But there was a moment where he veered off and he said that this

wasn't going to be like Iraq. I'm just looking at my notes here. He said that, "it will be minus Paul Bremer and the nation building." Paul Bremer, of course, ran the American Provisional Authority in Iraq after the initial invasion. And that was clearly, you know, a major failure.

But what he didn't lay out is what the end state was supposed to look at. I mean he -- look like. He essentially said, we're there to destroy. He said, we will do so without mercy. You know, he made this sound as if it was a revenge set of killings. In fact, one moment he stopped to say that they hunted down and found those who had plotted an assassination attempt against President Trump.

But he didn't, at any moment, say to the Iranian people, look, when this is done, what we're trying to do is create a free and democratic state. And it's up to you to go do this or we will help you do this. That would have been the political objective. And, in fact, we really haven't heard that at all since the president's initial video just hours after all of this started, where he urged the Iranian people to rise up when this is over.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

Nick Paton Walsh joining us as well.

Nick, you were listening into this as well. One of the things we heard from Hegseth is he made -- laid it out in a sports analogy about the playbooks and how -- that Iran had a preplanned playbook, and then they're in the middle of it, and they don't know what play to call. What did you hear in that?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's interesting. I mean it kind of tallies with what we were hearing indeed from senior Iranian officials in the opening hours of all of this, that there was something they referred to as a decentralized command mosaic, or defense mosaic, where they'd essentially given different units independent instructions prior to the conflict, i.e. prior to the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei here. And I think that is potentially suggesting that there was a, in the event of this occurring, break glass type plan, which was followed out in those first days. That may be why we saw such an extraordinary array of retaliation across the entire region, often against nations that were not pro-U.S. or Israeli intervention here. And then Mr. Hegseth is sort of saying, well, we seem now to be getting to the point where that is done, and they are perhaps either struggling to adapt or adapting perfectly well and have still command and control.

General Caine not quite so specific when asked as to how command and control were functioning at this particular point.

[08:45:02]

But that is particularly interesting because it may indeed suggest that we've seen that first kind of all-out response that Iran fired because of the killing of Khamenei. And we may be entering into a different, potentially more adaptive phase, if indeed there are still enough commanders around calling the shots in a unified fashion with, importantly, somebody at the top having a political reflection on quite what the best course ahead is.

Remember, we still do not have a replacement for the supreme leader. And in a society as autocratic as Iran, that's pretty key at a time like this.

One other point I did hear, which may inform what we see in the days ahead, was the suggestion that we're now down 73 percent, or the number of attack drones, one-way attack drones, the shahids, the kind of singular fire and forget drones that don't direct themselves on their way but are kind of given a target and then land. They've been causing havoc across the region, particularly in the early days. They're incredibly hard to stop if they're in large waves. The very expensive, sophisticated defenses of many of the gulf states, it's sort of spending millions of dollars of taking out one of these things. It might cost like $30,000 to put in the skys. That's a key issue. If they're dropping the number they're firing, is that because their stocks are low, or are they getting better at working out how to evade defenses at this particular point?

But it does also suggest, along with the point you heard about a switch potentially from smart munitions to dumb munitions, stand in procedures, that we're at a point of American superiority here in the air. That will potentially inform the timeline of how many more targets they choose to go for. And we're also getting an indication, maybe, that the Iranians are seeing their inventories lower. That doesn't say that we're into closing stages here. Far from it. The bravado of here was aimed to definitely project maximum leverage if there is any negotiation process to be had at all. But it gives you an idea as to how -- whether or not we might see four or five weeks here or quite where we -- we're looking in terms of the timing of all of this.

BERMAN: Just some statistics that Nick was talking about there that I think are worth repeating.

SIDNER: Yes.

BERMAN: That General Caine said that drone strikes are down more than 70 percent from the first day, that missile strikes are down 80 percent, more than 80 percent from the first day, including more than 20 percent in just the last 24 hours.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean that is going to at least change things potentially on the ground in places where those missiles and drones can hit, which includes where our Nic Robertson is, a place that has been hit and the embassy in danger there and closed.

I do want to ask you, Nic, what you heard when it came to Americans trying to leave the region. You are in a place where the embassy has been closed. We heard from General Caine that they had opened some space up on C-17s to try and help folks get out, but many Americans are still stranded. What are you hearing about that? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, one of the

difficulties is for American citizens who are not living in Saudi Arabia, living in other parts of the gulf, to actually get here to Saudi because the airspace from Riyadh, from Jeddah, in the west of the country, remains open. We know that the embassy here is trying to work as it can with American citizens, both in Saudi and in the region. The details are really yet to fully emerge on that.

What did come across to me that I find significant in what we heard from General Caine and Pete Hegseth there was some of the specifics about how the gulf states are responding. And this is critical and key to whether or not or how much this current conflict escalates as it sort of descends into chaos.

General Caine spoke about, you know, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, all sort of using their defensive missile capabilities and how that sort of improved the effect of being able to intercept the missiles and drones that are being fired. But he used the word that I found very, very interesting, particularly as countries like Saudi Arabia try to gauge how they should respond to Iran's attacks. He spoke about restraint. And he almost sort of seemed to commend that restraint. And it's not clear as the White House, you know, really requesting of their allies and partners in the region, and as General Caine pointed out, this is a war that many of those partners, Saudi Arabia among them, did not want. They did not want a chaotic war that threatens their economy. And it was interesting that he pointed that out as well. So, commending, it appeared, that restraint for the United States and Israel, perhaps to have a clearer shot so that it doesn't completely escalate. But that was a very, very important point.

The other detail we learned there that we hadn't heard previously is that Saudi Arabia's energy facilities in the east, meaning here the oil facilities, were targeted by ballistic missiles that were taken down, intercepted by Patriot missile interceptor systems.

[08:50:13]

It is significant in the Saudi's assessment of how much Iran escalates that they use ballistic missiles. We didn't get a date on that.

But I think the real determining factor in this part of the world, when they hear the statistics about the reduction of the number of missiles fired from the first day or so, the question is, does Iran have command and control? And the sense here is that they do still to a measure. And therefore the question becomes, OK, there was a reduction in the missiles fired, yes, but is that because Iran is intending to fight this longer? Pete Hegseth talking about four, six, eight either or maybe three weeks he said. Is Iran now downscaling the number of missiles that it fires a day, factoring in a longer campaign? That's a question that gets asked here.

BERMAN: Yes, we simply don't know the answer to that right now, whether they've stopped firing as much because they're running out or because they're saving some for later. Dana Stroul, I want to bring you into this because Secretary Hegseth

began the entire briefing by -- said the United States, he believes, is winning decisively. And then, as Kate laid out there, he said that the Iranian navy has been destroyed, the air force has been destroyed. But then he said, it's not mission accomplished and they've only just begun. It's a little bit of a conflicting message there, a mixed message there.

As we see sort of the conflict spreading. We have an Iranian naval vessel sunk in the Indian Ocean. That may be what we saw off the coast of Sri Lanka, pretty far away from the gulf there. We see Cyprus, the United States suggesting that U.S. embassy officials leave Cyprus because there are concerns about attacks there. And in Pakistan, in Lahore and Karachi, embassy officials being told to leave as well.

So, do you see this as something that's getting wider or maybe more narrowly focused over the skies of Iran?

DANA STROUL, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: It's definitely getting wider. So, first of all, with respect to Iran, what's remarkable, and I agree with what we heard from General Caine and Secretary Hegseth, within 48 hours Israel and the United States together had air supremacy over Iran. And what they're doing now is a race against time to get out as much -- destroy as much of that missile program, all elements of the Iranian missile program and the drones. So, the production facilities, the storage facilities, the launchers, everything before the air defense of the region gives out. And it's very clear that the rate of the -- of attacks, as you mentioned with the percentages, has gone down in the past 24 hours.

But, in the last 48 hours, we have Israeli ground forces inside Lebanon. There are more airstrikes inside Iraq. As you noted, the attack on the British base Akrotiri in Cyprus, and now far beyond the Middle East, this attack on an Iranian warship in the -- in Asian waters.

So, this is escalating broadly, horizontally, beyond the region. And I should also note here, there are certain things we haven't seen yet. We know that not all of the missiles inside Iran and all of the drones are destroyed yet. And the Iranians also have cards to play here. They could escalate beyond U.S. diplomatic facilities, beyond energy infrastructure, which is what we've seen in the first four days of this.

BOLDUAN: Kim, I wanted to ask you about -- well, it was a question that the secretary got, and he said simply, and only, we're investigating and wouldn't answer the question. The strike on a school in southern Iran, this happened on Saturday. And at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed in what was a U.S.-Israeli strike on this girl's elementary school. And the question was, whose munition was it? And Hegseth simply saying, we're investigating. But we do know that the secretary gave a lot of detail about a lot of things that just happened in the last 24 hours that he says the United States pulled off. What do you think of this?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes. To the rest of the world, that's going to sound guilty. That was a British reporter asking that. Across Europe, in Britain, people looking at this. Many consider this an illegal war. The French president said it's against international law, even though they're not going to object to it. And that colors how the world is reacting to this now and the long-term fallout of the U.S. together with Israel launching what many, the majority, consider a war of aggression. That also speaks to what we're going to see in terms of popular Arab world reaction once the dust settles.

But I just have to add though, you know, listening to this, I covered a lot of those pressers from Iraq in 2003.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

[08:55:07]

DOZIER: And it -- they all sounded celebratory. We're taking all of these targets. And I understand that they're not doing the invasion piece. They're not doing the nation building piece. But what they're counting out is the Iranian military's ability to turn itself into an insurgent force that conducts terrorist activities across the region, possibly in Europe, possibly in the United States.

So, yes, they are taking all the targets off the board right now, and they're ticking through their list that the White House has articulated taking out, the navy, taking out the launch sites. But down the line, that's probably why they've warned so many Americans to get out of the region now. There's already been a terrorist plot that was interrupted in the UAE against Israeli diplomats, and they've been evacuated. You know, Americans, if they do end up getting hit by some sort of plot, they're going to ask, you know, Pete Hegseth just bragged that they got 90 percent of the troops out of the region before this attack began. Why didn't they do any similar planning and warning for American citizens in harm's way?

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Great question.

SIDNER: It is a really good question.

Zach Cohen, as you listened to this, what is it that you -- that stuck with you that you're going to take away? Because there's a lot of questions that are left unanswered at this point still.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, there were a few things. And one, the secretary was asked specifically about whether the U.S. military was planning to provide support to Kurdish opposition groups in the region. We've obviously reported that there have been ongoing discussions and that the president himself has spoken to some of the leaders of these groups. Hegseth, saying that, no, the military itself, that's not part of its objective, but did acknowledge that there are other agencies potentially focused on that effort, leaving it to those other agencies to answer questions about it. As we've reported yesterday, though, we know from our sources that the

CIA is working to arm Kurdish opposition forces in -- outside of Iran and in Iran. That's something that is very controversial and something that experts have widely said is a risky play. But it's something that the Trump administration is laying the groundwork with the expectation hopefully on the administration's side that the CIA, the Kurdish forces, can help foment a popular uprising inside Iran. And going back to the thing that Donald Trump said in his very first video message about urging the Iranian people to rise up and take back their government, this would fold into that effort.

The other thing that stuck out was Hegseth, again, making very clear in saying this repeatedly, that the U.S. military's objective and the reason for starting this conflict was Iran's nuclear ambitions. And that's something that is really a murky issue. We've heard from the head of the International Atomic Agency saying that Iran was not days or weeks away from a bomb. We have not gotten a timeline that would suggest that that posed an imminent threat.

So, an interesting point by Hegseth that that's the justification.

BERMAN: Thank you to all our reporters and analysts helping us understand what we just heard at the Pentagon from the defense secretary and the chair of the Joint Chiefs.

We're going to tick through this as there are new developments coming from the war zone, even as we speak.

CNN NEWS CENTRAL continues right after this.

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