Hegseth says US timeline is 'ours alone to control'; CENTCOM provides update on Iran strikes

Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, gives an update on U.S. actions in the war in Iran during a briefing at CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, Fla., on March 5, 2026. (U.S. Central Command)

In the past 72 hours, U.S. bombers have struck nearly 200 sites in Iran and dropped dozens of 2,000-pound penetrator bombs targeting ballistic missile launchers, the leader of U.S. Central Command said Thursday.

“We’ve also struck Iran’s equivalent of Space Command, which degrades their ability to threaten Americans,” Adm. Brad Cooper said from CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, Fla., at a briefing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Cooper added the U.S. had sunk or destroyed more than 30 ships. Iran’s rate of shots fired is down significantly from the start of the campaign, ballistic missile fire is down 90% and drone attacks down 83%.

“Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation by the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]. Our timeline is ours and ours alone to control,” Hegseth said.

He also noted the U.S. military has plenty of munitions.

“Our stockpiles of defensive and offensive weapons allow us to sustain this campaign as long as we need to. … Again, our munition status only increases as our advantage increases. [And] our capabilities? We have only just begun to fight and fight decisively,” Hegseth said.

The U.S. and Israel launched extensive strikes against Iran on Saturday morning after months of stalled negotiations over the country’s nuclear program. President Donald Trump later that night announced the operation had resulted in the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. In addition to the strikes on Iran, Israel has attacked the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

Six soldiers have died in the fighting. They include Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Fla.; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Neb.; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minn.; Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa; and Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Waukee, Iowa, as among those killed Sunday at Port Shuaiba, the main industrial port in Kuwait.

In a separate statement, the Pentagon said it believes Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, Calif., also died in the attack. His identification has yet to be confirmed by a medical examiner.

In a phone interview with ABC News, Trump marveled at the success of the military operation against Iran and expressed no concern about what comes next.

“Forget about next,” he said. “They are decimated for a 10-year period before they could build it back.”

Before Hegseth visited CENTCOM and spent a couple of hours with Cooper going over the “entirety of this operation,” he gave a speech at U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Fla. The secretary urged Latin American countries to take a more aggressive approach against drug cartels, warning that the Trump administration would be forced to act by itself if governments fail to effectively combat criminal organizations that directly threaten the United States and border security.

“America is prepared to take on these threats and go on the offense alone if necessary,” Hegseth said alongside defense officials from allied governments around the region.

Hegseth spoke at what the Pentagon billed as the first “Americas Counter Cartel Conference,” with representatives from Argentina, Honduras and the Dominican Republic among more than a dozen conservative governments closely aligned with Trump. Most of the military leaders came to Florida with their presidents, who on Saturday are scheduled to attend a summit with Trump at his nearby golf club, the Associated Press reported.