War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Dan Caine will speak at a press conference this afternoon to provide updates on Operation Epic Fury.
Hegseth and Caine will deliver the press conference from the US Central Command Headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
Hegseth delivered remarks earlier at the US Southern Command Headquarters in Doral, Florida, during the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference with “like-minded regional defense and security leaders from the Caribbean, Central America, and South America,” according to the Pentagon.
As The Gateway Pundit reported on Tuesday, the U.S. Southern Command announced new operations with the Ecuadorian military against narco-terrorists in Ecuador.
This comes as the US and Israel enter the sixth day of war with Iran.
On Wednesday, Hegseth and Caine delivered a press briefing at the Pentagon, where Hegseth announced that US forces “hunted down and killed” the leader of an Iranian unit behind an assassination plot against President Trump.
“Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh,” Hegseth said.
He further said that the US has dismantled Iran’s defense capabilities, including its navy and air force. “The Iranian Air Force is no more. Built for 1996, destroyed in 2026. The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” he said, adding that Iran’s military is “combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated— Pick your adjective.”
Iran has launched a series of retaliatory strikes against Israel and the US, including the suicide drone bombing of the US consulate in Dubai on Tuesday and the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia on Monday, where the CIA station was hit. US Central Command reports that the Iranian regime has already fired more than 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones.
At least six U.S. service members have been killed in action since the beginning of the operation.
Recent reporting suggests that the US may also move to arm Kurdish fighters to ignite an uprising in Iran and take over the government.
Though the White House has not confirmed these plans, the Gateway Pundit reported that Kurdish officials and people familiar with the discussions say President Trump spoke with Iraqi Kurdish leaders Bafel Talabani and Masoud Barzani, asking them to allow Iranian Kurdish fighters based in Iraq to move into western Iran.
The Department of War announced the briefing on X earlier.
ANNOUNCEMENT: pic.twitter.com/oeKnE1dv9X
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) March 5, 2026
Watch live below:
The post WATCH LIVE: Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine Hold Press Conference on Day 6 of Operation Epic Fury in Iran – 4:30 PM ET appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.