Name: Full Pentagon briefing on Iran: 'Regime change has occurred', Hegseth says
Uploaded: 2026-03-31T16:46:19.000Z
Duration: 20 min 55 s
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Well, over the weekend I had the opportunity to visit our troops fighting in Operation Epic Fury.

We were on in the ground or on the ground, excuse me, in CENTCOM on Saturday for about half the day.

Basic passive voice

For reasons of operational security, so those troops are not targeted, the places and bases will not be named.

Suffice it to say, the trip was an honor.

I had a chance to bear witness, and I witnessed the best of America.

I witnessed warriors, a brotherhood of men and women, warriors all, active duty, guard, and

reserve, united in their love for each other, their shared purpose, and their commitment to the mission.

I watched a private first class confidently calling out an enemy missile trajectory to a room full of officers.

Two enemy missiles successfully shot down.

I spoke to Air Force and Navy pilots on the flight line who every day both deliver bombs deep into Iran but also shoot down drones defending their base.

Many had just returned from the skies of Iran and Tehran.

I put on a headset and spoke to one crew in the cockpit, locked and loaded each and every day.

I witnessed ingenuity, American ingenuity.

I met the young Army officer who figured out how to neutralize maneuvering enemy missiles, saving countless lives.

His commander confirmed that the whoops and cheers erupted in the tactical operations center when his new approach was first successful.

I met the Air Force intel analyst who refines target packages faster than the enemy can adapt.

I actually gave him my card and told him to keep me posted on the ground truth.

I did the same with his boss, a colonel with a heart the size of Texas and a beautiful deployment mustache to match.

I met a junior airman as the sun was going down and a chill was setting on the tarmac who, when asked what they needed, she simply looked up at me with a sly smile on her face and said, "More bombs, sir, and

We will happily oblige her." I met the Army targeting team who found and sunk the pride and joy of the Iranian Navy, their fighting position plastered with images of sunken enemy ships, and

Right when we landed, another C-17 landed just minutes after us,

and within 30 seconds of the aircraft coming to a full stop, a team on the ground pulled up and the cargo was being uploaded.

To a man and to a woman on the ground, in the air, on the flight line, and

in the talk, I heard, "We want everything faster, higher opt tempo, wartime speed." The feeling was the exact opposite of the rotational units year after year in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that we're so familiar with.

In those wars, it was always about the next rotation, never knowing when the mission would end or exactly what the mission was, year after year, not with Epic Fury.

I witnessed urgency to finish the job, urgency to achieve mission success, not looking at the next rotation, only moving as fast as possible to win.

I got a chance to troop the line, to witness firsthand what we already know is true.

I spoke to all ranks and all services, none of whom knew we were coming.

It was the kind of war-fighting American spirit that comes with a clear mission against a determined enemy.

A crew chief we flew with summed it up nicely.

He said, "It's been a busy few weeks, sir.

Tough stuff, but I'm so honored to be called up.

Please thank the president from us." I heard that time and time again.

I asked each young American, "What do you need?" And nobody said better equipment.

Nobody said more comfortable living conditions.

Nobody said, "Send me home." Well, of course, eventually we want all those things.

But what those Americans said to me, young and old, officer and NCO, male and female, black and white, was, "Let's finish the mission.

Get us even more bombs, bigger bombs, more targets.

Let us finish this." In fact, Admiral Cooper noted this morning that the three Air Force captains shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire early in the fight weeks ago.

All dropped bombs over Tehran last night.

These men and women live the Iranian threat every day, incoming missiles and drones,

and know what a world looks like, what the world would look like if Iran had the most dangerous weapons in the world, a nuclear weapon, as President Trump has said time and time again for years and in this administration, "Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb,

and they won't." These troops, they want to finish this fight for their kids and their grandkids.

And because of this president and these Americans, we're closer than ever before to winning.

President Trump is doing what no other president had the guts to do.

On the battlefield, because of the latitude the president has given us, American firepower is only increasing.

We have more and more options, and they have less.

Just one month in, only one month, we set the terms.

Iran knows that, and there's almost nothing they can militarily do about it.

Yes, they will still shoot some missiles, but we will shoot them down.

Of note, the last 24 hours saw the lowest number of enemy missiles and drones fired by Iran.

They will go underground, but we will find them.

We recently destroyed another one of their command bunkers.

No water, no power, no oxygen, no command and control.

The latest intel is clear out of CENTCOM: our strikes are damaging the morale of the Iranian military, leading to widespread desertions, key personnel shortages,

and causing frustrations amongst senior leaders.

Just last night, we had 200 dynamic strikes alone.

Dynamic strike is a strike where a pilot leaves,

and during their flight, they get a new target set based on real-time intel given to them, a new launcher, a new location, a new troop formation.

A dynamic target is one that changes while you're in the air because of improved intelligence, 200 dynamic strikes alone in addition to the preplanned targets.

The video the president posted last night of Isfahan, an ammo depot struck by US bombers you see, you don't get to see many of those videos because, as a reminder, Iran has still shut off the internet to 99.9% of its population.

But if Iran is wise, they will cut a deal.

President Trump doesn't bluff, and he does not back down.

The new Iranian regime should know that by now.

This new regime, because regime change has occurred, should be wiser than the last.

And the terms of the deal are known to them.

If Iran is not willing, then the United States War Department will continue with even more intensity.

Standing here this morning in this briefing room, in my mind's eye I'm actually looking out at the groups I met this weekend: the pilots, the logisticians, the intel analysts, the targeters, the sustainers, the flight crews, the air defenders, the base security, those maintainers who we walked up at sunset with the chill in the air on the flight line.

May God watch over all of them each day and each night.

May His almighty and eternal arms of providence stretch over them and protect them and bring them peace.

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Full Pentagon briefing on Iran: 'Regime change has occurred', Hegseth says

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