In Tuesday's White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took to the podium to update on the president's schedule for the week as well as reiterate President Donald Trump's Monday message on Iran, while reinforcing the aims of Operation Epic Fury:
- Destroy Iran's ballistic missiles;
- Annihilate the Iranian missile industry;
- Disable Iran's terrorist proxies from destabilizing the region;
- Ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.
Along with the President's aims to ward off economic instability in the West, Leavitt reassured that the Strait of Hormuz would remain open to civilian and military vessels. Leavitt further warned that Iran would continue to suffer if they attempted to thwart this.
U.S. forces are degrading the Iranian regime's ability to project power at sea and harass international shipping. For years, Iranian forces have threatened freedom of navigation in waters essential to American, regional and global security and prosperity. pic.twitter.com/gIBN02mowh
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 10, 2026
Leavitt said:
Last night, President Trump reiterated his commitment toward keeping oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, so the United States and all of our allies can receive their energy needs. President Trump will not allow rogue Iranian terrorists to stop the freedom of navigation and the free flow of energy. Let me be clear: It is a good thing to wipe out terrorists who indiscriminately target civilians and attempt to hold the global economy hostage, and President Trump should be commended for doing so. As the president made unequivocally clear to the remaining elements of this terrorist regime in his statement yesterday, if they do anything to stop the flow of oil or goods within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the world's most powerful military 20 times harder than they have been hit thus far. Moving forward, the stated objectives for Operation Epic Fury remain the same: destroy the terrorist regime's ballistic missiles, raze their Iranian missile industry to the ground, ensure their terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region, and ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon. President Trump remains confident these goals will be accomplished in swift fashion.
WATCH:
.@PressSec: "Last night, @POTUS reiterated his commitment toward keeping oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, so the United States and all of our allies can receive their energy needs. President Trump will not allow rogue Iranian terrorists to stop the freedom of navigation… pic.twitter.com/HImZbJUIM6
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 10, 2026
Leavitt then debunked Democrat and legacy media fake news reports surrounding the progress that had been made in the Operation Epic Fury campaign.
Oil Prices Surge Then Plunge Amid Optimism Over U.S.-Israel War With Iran Nearing End
Hegseth Body-Slams the 'Israel Made Us Do It' Crowd at Iran Briefing: 'We Are Leading'
Leavitt continued:
As President Trump shared with the American people last night, the United States military is making tremendous strides towards achieving our military objectives for Operation Epic Fury. Ten days in, this campaign has been a resounding success thus far, and America's warriors are winning this important fight at an even faster pace than we anticipated. More than 5,000 enemy targets have been struck so far. Iran's ballistic missile attacks are down more than 90 percent and their drone attacks are down by approximately 85 percent since the start of Operation Epic Fury. The United States is also annihilating the Iranian regime's Navy, and we have destroyed more than 50 Iranian Naval vessels, including a major drone carrier ship. None of the regime's vessels are operating in major regional waterways, and the Iranian Navy has been assessed as combat ineffective. The trend is clear: U.S. combat capabilities are increasing and growing more lethal and dominant by the day, while the Iranian terrorist regime's ability to respond has rapidly declined. Now, the U.S. military is moving to dismantle Iran's missile production infrastructure. Our incredible B-2 bombers recently dropped dozens of 2,000 pound penetrator bombs on deeply-buried missile sites.
WATCH:
.@PressSec on the success of Operation Epic Fury: "Ten days in, this campaign has been a resounding success thus far, and America's warriors are winning this important fight at an even faster pace than we anticipated."
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 10, 2026
— More than 5,000 enemy targets stuck
— Iran's ballistic… pic.twitter.com/4PG0OhQy4w
While Americans remain cautiously optimistic that this is looking less and less like a forever war, the fact that the Trump administration's stated goals are full surrender or annihilation, rather than limited concessions or graduated withdrawal, goes a long way to shoring up confidence in their leadership.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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