A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The U.S. and Israel are striking targets across Iran as the country widens its retaliatory strikes across the region. The Pentagon says it has destroyed the Iranian navy and that all of Iran's senior leaders have been killed. Now, preparations for the funeral of Iran's late supreme leader, who was killed by Israel, were set to begin tonight but have now been postponed. The widespread fighting continues to disrupt air travel and shipping channels in the region, while the administration has offered shifting rationales for the ongoing military operation. This morning, the Pentagon held a press conference. NPR's Greg Myre was monitoring. Greg, what did we find out?
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Yeah. So Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a very upbeat description. He said, America's winning, the results have been incredible. And as you noted, he talked about Iran's senior leaders being dead. And we're talking about 50 or more senior leaders. It's not even clear who is left to form a new leadership. The Iranian air force has been wiped out, he said. This wasn't a - this was a very old, outdated air force, but now it has been destroyed. And Iran's navy wasn't very strong, but that also seems to have been destroyed. And he said that U.S. and Israel air power is becoming more dominant by the day and will soon have absolute, complete control of the Iranian skies, making it really an uncontested airspace. Here's a bit of what Hegseth said.
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PETE HEGSETH: The two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies - uncontested airspace. It means we will fly all day, all night - day and night - finding, fixing and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military.
MYRE: So Iran's air defenses were pretty weak to begin with, but now the U.S. and Israel have maybe been a little bit cautious, and they think they're going to wipe that - air defenses out entirely very soon.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now, I saw General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, also speaking at that press conference. What did he say?
MYRE: Yeah, A, it was very interesting 'cause he did give a breakdown on how the U.S. and Israel are dividing up operations. The U.S. has really been focused on the southern coast of Iran. It's been using long-distance missiles and other weapons to hit targets along the coast. But he said as the U.S. gains more control, it will send planes over in Iran and move deeper inland. Israel has been hitting Iran's leaders in Tehran, in that area, and also in western Iran. So it showed a little bit of the division of labor there. Here's a bit from General Caine.
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DAN CAINE: This progress has allowed CENTCOM to establish localized air superiority across the southern flank of the Iranian coast and penetrate their defenses with overwhelming precision and firepower. We will now begin to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory.
MYRE: So we did have this impression, but he made it explicit with his comments at the press conference.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Caine and Hegseth have laid out a pretty bleak picture for the Iranian military. What are its capabilities right now?
MYRE: Yeah. So they say those capabilities are being degraded by the day. Now, Hegseth acknowledged that Iran will still be able to shoot missiles. It's been targeting U.S. embassies and civilians throughout the region. But thousands - and missiles of - and drones have been shot down by the U.S. forces in other countries in the region, so there's a significant reduction in Iranian fire. They said we should expect to see more of that, and then the U.S. forces and Israeli forces will be able to strike more freely inside Iran.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre. Thanks a lot, Greg.
MYRE: Sure thing, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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