WASHINGTON – Iran resists but falls short of pre-war expectations, top U.S. general Gen. Dan Caine said Tuesday, as the Pentagon gears up for its fiercest barrages in the 10-day conflict while eyeing potential Strait of Hormuz escorts.
With Revolutionary Guards threatening Gulf oil blockades, officials renewed vows of escalated hits unless Hormuz flows resume, targeting mine-layers and depots along Iran’s coast, where one-fifth of global oil and LNG normally passes. Producers, storage depleted, have idled pumps.
“Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran: most fighters, bombers, refined intelligence like never before,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared at a briefing.
Tehran spurned Trump’s leadership swap demand, installing hardliner Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader after his father’s Day 1 death. Retaliatory Iranian blows have struck U.S. bases, Gulf diplomatic sites, hotels, airports and oil assets,but Pentagon tallies show sharp drops as U.S. bombs deplete stocks and launchers.
On Iran’s mettle, Joint Chiefs Chairman Caine said: “They’re fighting, and I respect that, but not more formidable than we thought.”
Trump pledged March 3 tanker protections, yet no escorts launched amid chaos. “We’re looking at a range of options,” Caine noted. Hegseth amplified: “Death, fire, and fury” await waterway closers, touting unmatched U.S. might. Unlike Iraq/Afghanistan quagmires, focus stays on military nodes, not occupation.
Over 5,000 targets hit since February 28, sinking or wrecking 50+ Iranian vessels. “We will not relent until totally and decisively defeated, on our timeline,” Hegseth affirmed.