Unlike the endless wars of the past that

dragged on for years and for decades

with little to show for it, Operation

Epic Fury has delivered a decisive

military results in just weeks. Korea,

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, as the

president has pointed out, all took

years, decades. Vague missions, shifting

sands, little to show for it. Operation

Epic Fury has been laser focused from

the very start, as I've said to all of

you, clear mission objectives, and

ultimately Iran will not have a nuclear

weapon.

It's a bold and dangerous mission, a

gift to the world, historic, courtesy of

a bold and historic president.

That mission continues today in this new

phase as Iran has an important choice, a

chance to make a deal, a good deal, a

wise deal. As part of that effort, the

United States has imposed an ironclad

blockade that grows more powerful by the

day. From the Gulf of Oman to the open

oceans, our Navy is enforcing this

blockade without hesitation or apology.

Now, as usual, there's a lot of false

information out there. I'll say this.

Every ship, every ship that the US

believes meets our criteria, either

Iranian ships or to and from Iranian

ports, has been turned around. As of

this morning, 34 total. Non Iranian

vessels are allowed to transit,

and many have, including overnight.

Not only is the blockade growing, in

fact, a second aircraft carrier will

join the blockade in just a few days,

but this growing blockade is also gone

global. Just this week, we seized two

Iranian dark fleet ships in the

Indo-Pacific region that had left

Iranian ports before the blockade went

into effect. They thought they'd made it

out just in time. They did not. We

seized their sanctioned ships and we

will seize more. Our blockade is growing

and going global. America's military is

unmatched, projecting power, denying

passage to adversaries and protecting

our interest at the time and place of

our choosing. No one sails from the

straight of Hormuz to anywhere in the

world without the permission of the

United States Navy. To the regime in

Thran, the blockade is tightening by the

hour. We are in control. Nothing in,

nothing out. Iran's battered military,

the IRGC specifically, has been reduced

to a gang of pirates with a flag. They

cloak their aggression in slogans, but

the world now sees them for what they

are, criminals on the high seas. Uh,

they don't control anything. They're

acting like pirates, acting like

terrorists.

They're the ones who lay indiscriminate

mines who shoot at random ships, who

killed 45,000

of their own people, innocent protesters

in the course of weeks. Their own

people, they are the bad actors. The

vessels that the Iranians seized in

recent days, a couple of them, they're

not American ships. They're not Israeli

ships. They're just random ships that

drove where they drove their little

speedboats up to and shot at those ships

with AK-47s. Anyone with a speedboat, a

gun, and the wrong intentions can do

that. They know that we, the United

States of America, control the flow of

global shipping. And we know that they

know their real navy is at the bottom of

the Arabian Gulf.

It's worth saying again, for 47 years,

Iran has been at war with America,

killing our citizens, our soldiers, and

our allies, while previous

administrations looked the other way.

The real endless war is the war that

Iran has waged on us for 47 years.

President Trump is the only president

with the guts and moral clarity to

finally do something about it. I see it

every day behind closed doors. President

Trump's fortitude is unshakable and his

mission is crystal clear. President

Trump said it again yesterday.

We have all the time in the world and

we're not an anxious for a deal. And I

hear him say it every day in private as

well. Iran knows that they still have an

open window to choose wisely. As we said

previously, choose wisely at the

negotiating table. All they have to do

is abandon a nuclear weapon in mean in

meaningful and verifiable ways. Or

instead they can watch their regime's

fragile economic state collapse under

the under un unrelenting pressure of

American power. A blockade as long as it

takes whatever President Trump decides.

Because the bottom line remains the

bottom line. Iran will never get a

nuclear bomb. The choice is theirs, but

with this blockade, the clock is not on

their side. Moreover,

President Trump has authorized the

United States Navy to destroy any

Iranian fastboats that attempt to put

mines in the water or disrupt passage

through the street of Hormuz to shoot

and kill. Our commanders have clear

rules of engagement. If Iran is putting

mines in the water or otherwise

threatening American commercial shipping

or American forces, we will shoot to

destroy. No hesitation, just like the

drug boats in the Caribbean.

It's also worth saying

this should not be America's fight

alone. We barely use the straight of

Hormuz as a country. Our energy doesn't

flow through there and we have plenty of

energy. Just look at the new global

Congo line headed to Texas. A beautiful

picture.

Europe and Asia have benefited from our

protection for decades. But the time for

free riding is over. America and the

free world deserve allies who are

capable, who are loyal, and who

understand that being an ally is not a

one-way street. It's a two-way street.

We are not counting on Europe, but they

need the straight of Hormuz much more

than we do and might want to start doing

less talking and having less fancy

conferences in Europe and get in a boat.

This is much more their fight than ours.

On this core mission, America's will is

unshakable. Our capabilities unmatched.

Our blockade is only growing and going

global. And as the president said, we

have all the time in the world.

Iran has a historic chance to make a

serious deal, and the ball is in their

court.

Either way, the War Department stands

ready for what comes next, locked and

loaded. May God continue to bless bless

our warriors each and every day and on

each and every mission. Mr. Chairman,

over to you, Mr.

>> Secretary,

Mr. Hith here and now the chairman of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff United States

major combat operations against Iran.

Today and this morning, the joint force

remains postured and prepared to

recommence major combat operations on

the order of the president. On April

8th, the president announced a

ceasefire. And last week, at the

president's direction and on order, the

secretary, US SenCom began enforcing a

blockade against all commercial vessels

going into and out of Iran and their

ports. Simultaneously, the US military

in support of the US Department of

Justice was ordered to conduct maritime

interdiction operations against

sanctioned and darkfleet vessels

globally. This operation also began on

April 8th. And what I'd like to do this

morning is update all of you on those

actions and activities. First, as I

mentioned, US Central Command continues

to maintain a strict blockade on all the

ports. We're enforcing the blockade

across the board against any ship of any

nationality that is transiting to or

from an Iranian port or territory. We're

closely tracking vessels of interest

headed towards Iran and those moving

away from Iran that were outside the

blockade area when this blockade was

ordered. And as everyone saw this past

weekend were prepared and postured to

intercept them. As of this morning, uh

34 ships have met the US blockade and

made the wise choice to turn around. One

ship did not, and that ship was the

motor vessel Tusca. Over several hours

this past Sunday, April 19th, the US

conducted maritime interdiction

operations against the Tusca, whose crew

attempted to breach the blockade line.

The Tuscup is a large container ship

about 965

ft long or about the same size as a

United States Navy aircraft carrier and

over 100 ft wide. The operation began

about 400 a.m. Eastern Standard Time

when the United States Navy destroyer

approached her uh and the crew and the

vessel uh ignored uh warnings. And I've

described how the destroyer force is

operating in the uh in the area prior.

Um upon intercept and coming within

visual range, American forces began to

issue se issue several clear and

unambiguous warnings and inform the

vessel and their crew that they were in

a violation of the US blockade and

directed the ship to turn around. Over a

six-hour period, the vessel and her crew

repeatedly ignored US warnings. And then

the US Navy destroyer executed a series

of pre-planned, carefully calibrated

escalation options, including firing

five warning shots. The vessel and her

crew continued to ignore warnings. And

after exhausting all other measures,

Sentcom authorized disabling fire

against the TUSCa. US sailors warned the

crew of the Tusca to abandon the engine

room. And at approximately 9:00 a.m.

Eastern time, the destroyer disabled the

Tusca's engine by firing nine inert

rounds from the destroyer's Mark 45 5-in

guns precisely into the engine room and

engine space on board the Tusca. Not

surprisingly, the vessel then reported

issues with their engine uh went dead in

the water and began to comply with US

directions and orders. At 400 p.m.

Eastern Standard Time, SenCom ordered

United States Marines to seize the ship

via helicopters. US Marines maneuvered

quickly to the disabled ship, boarded

her from fast ropes via helicopter

infiltration methods, and took custody

of the ship. The ship and her crew

remained safe in US custody today. Let

me now turn to global operations in the

Pacific. And I want to highlight that

this is a major inter agency effort

between the United States military, the

White House, the Department of Homeland

Security, and the Department of Justice.

On Monday, April 20th, US Indopaccom

forces in support of a Department of

Justice request interdicted the motor

tanker Tiffany, which was transporting

sanctioned Iranian oil. The Tiffany is a

very large crude tanker, VLCC for short,

and is also about the size of a US

aircraft carrier, and capable of

transporting approximately 2 million uh

barrels of oil. At approximately 11:30 p

p.m. Eastern time, US military forces

and law enforcement forces also went to

the ship via rotary wing platforms fast

roped onto her deck and secured her.

After the ship was secured, a US Navy

control team embarked aboard the Tfani

Tiffany or Tiffani and assumed control

of the ship at 400 a.m. Eastern time on

April 21st. A Navy control team is

comprised of sailors led by a boarding

officer that assumes control of a sea

ship in order to secure the crew, the

cargo and the vessel. And disposition of

that first vessel is still pending. The

next interdiction occurred on Wednesday,

this past Wednesday, 22 April, when

Indoaccom conducted yet another

interdiction, again at the request of

the US Department of Justice. This time

the stateless motor tanker Majestic X,

also known as the Ponx, also in the

Indian Ocean. This is again a VLCC or

very large crude tanker. At

approximately 11:00 p.m. Eastern

Standard Time, US forces began the

interdiction, again using rotary wing uh

assets to get to the ship, got on board,

and secured the bridge. Both ships, the

Tfani, the Majestic X, and their crews

remain in US custody, and we will

continue to conduct similar maritime

interdiction actions and activities in

the Pacific and Indian oceans against

Iranian ships and vessels of the Dark

Fleet. The actions by our service

members and our law enforcement partners

demonstrate the incredible discipline

and dedication and professionalism of

our joint force and highlight the global

reach of American combat power. The

joint force remains on ensuring the

Iranian regime cannot harm our interest

are those of our allies our and

partners. And I'll highlight that Iran

has repeatedly sought to offensively and

proactively expand the conflict by

aggression against its neighbors and its

attacks on global shipping through the

strait. To date, Iran has attacked five

merchant vessels, seized two of them,

that were attempting to transit the

strait. And these include ships that

Iran itself had cleared to proceed.

Now, as I always do, I want to honor

members of the joint force. Today, I

want to highlight and proudly describe

the essential role of our intelligence

enterprise and the role that they play

in conducting our military operations.

The totality of their work is the

culmination of days, months, and in many

cases years of work by our uniformed and

civilian intelligence professionals. We

have been able to do the work that we

are ordered to do because America's

intelligence force, including our core

collectors and analysts, have spent

decades searching for every loose

thread. From the determination of a

particular intelligence requirement to

that piece of intelligence being

collected in the field by a military or

inter agency case officer to the

rigorous analysis that goes into

reporting on that finding. Those team

members spend their careers answering

the incredibly important questions that

we must attempt to answer before,

during, and after operations. They live

in the enemy's mind. Normally located

behind the green door, behind the vault

door in dark windowless rooms across the

world, 24 hours a day, seven days a

week, 365 days a year, our worldclass

intel members from DIA, our service

intelligence components, NSA, NGA, CIA,

NRO, and in the case of the operations

that I've just described, the Office of

Naval Intelligence, all worked

tirelessly to sift through the mountains

of collected information using tools,

tactics, techniques, and procedures that

I'm I'm not going to discuss today. The

sun never sets on these worldclass

professionals. And their goal is every

minute of every day to be on the

account. And they know the enemy. They

know their combat capability, their

weapons, their industrial and economic

systems. and they know their leaders,

their leaders pattern of life, where

they go, what they think, and what they

do. Thanks to their work, we know Iran

and it is an incredible work that they

do. Again, none of our operations that

we've conducted during my time in this

job could have done could have been done

without the service of these

intelligence professionals. And the

distance from those core collectors and

those analyst to those patriot crews who

are defending US forces forward or the

fighter pilots is incredibly spa small.

every single day, as their motto say,

they are committed to excellence in the

defense of the nation and to securing

the future, and they're doing the work

of the nation. Before I close, as I do

every time, I want to highlight and

remember our fallen today. I want to

highlight the 63 victims of the

terrorist bombing of the US embassy in

Beirut, which occurred 43 years ago,

just a few days ago on April 18th, 1983.

At that time, this was the deadliest

attack on a US diplomatic mission and

this was the first attack conducted by

Iranianbacked forces on Americans. The

suicide bomber detonated a vehicle-born

improvised explosive device out in front

of the embassy, killing 63 innocent

people, including 32 Lebanese, 14

visitors, and 17 Americans. And among

those lost, members of the joint force

to include three Army soldiers and one

United States Marine. We remember their

names. Sergeant First Class Richard

Twine, Staff Sergeant Ben Maxwell, Staff

Sergeant Mark Salazar, and United States

Marine Corporal Vincent Mcmah. Today we

remember them. We carry on their memory

and the memory of all our fallen and

remain grateful for their sacrifice and

that of their families who continue to

show us what courage looks like as we

continue to press forward and maintain

these operations. The Secretary, the

Joint Chiefs of Staff, and I are deeply

humbled by the spirit, tenacity, and

commitment and grit of the 2.8 million

members of our joint force. The

secretary and I thank every member of

the joint force engaged in this

operation, every warrior who remains

deployed or who is supporting from here

at home. Thank you to and thank you to

your families. Sir, I'll turn it back

over to you. from the Pentagon and

worldwide across America on Bloomberg

radio, a press conference of the

Secretary of Defense and the chairman of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

>> Instances of Iranian vessels either

approaching or trying to breach the

blockade the longer it is in effect. Um,

and another question about the mine

threat. Um, has the mine threat been

neutralized enough to facilitate freer

flow in the straits?

Well, to the second question, first of

all, uh we are seeing vessels

transiting. There are paths that are

open. Uh and part of what the president

is threatening is ensuring if there's a

attempts to lay recklessly and

irresponsibly lay more mines, we're

going to deal with that. It's a

violation of the ceasefire. So transit

is occurring much more limited than

anybody would like to to see and with

more risk than people would like to see.

But that's because Iran is doing

irresponsible things with small fast

boats, crafts, like I said, with with

weapons on them. These are commercial

ships in some cases cruise ships, cruise

ships that came through uh being

threatened uh by these. So as far as

breaching the blockade, it's been a

pretty consistent there were a number of

ships at the beginning. Then you had the

interdiction that the chairman described

where we took out the engine room and

disabled that ship. I think that sent a

very clear sign that this is not a a

fake blockade. This is a real full

blockade. We'll use up to and including

lethal force if necessary. uh and that

stopped and other ships have have taken

note of that. So any ships that have

attempted uh there's been levels of

escalation but none uh that far and

they've turned around. Absolutely. Yes.

>> Good morning, Mr. Secretary, Mr.

Chairman. Uh David Zia, real America's

voice. Uh to follow up on Alexander's

question, um how big are these mine

laying boats? Can they be achieved from

fast votes? And I wanted to follow up my

last week question about um as jet fuel

stocks in Europe reportedly are only

about six weeks left. They get most of

their jet fuel from the Gulf. Have any

European countries reached out to assist

in coordinating off the straight and

participating in escorts?

>> I know there's a lot of talks. You saw

the I would call it a silly conference

uh in in Europe last week where they got

together and talked about talking about

maybe doing something eventually when

things are done. Uh those are not

serious efforts yet. We would welcome

that. We would welcome a serious

European effort to do something about

this straight and this passage

considering it's their energy

capabilities that are most at stake. I

think it's a wake-up call. It's a wakeup

call for countries around the world.

Either you have capabilities or you

don't. Otherwise, you're at the behest

of a country like Iran, and the only

country that can do something about it

uh is the United States military. Do you

want to talk about the mines and the

small crafts?

>> Uh they they have a variety of smaller

Boston wherized boats. We have we have

forces up there uh deterring and

preventing them from continuing to do

that. We'll continue to do so pursuant

to the orders of the secretary and the

president. But it would reckless mining

like that is a violation

and very unwise uh to do.

>> Absolutely. Jerry,

>> uh thank you. Um so uh Pope Leo has made

some striding comments about the war in

Iran and the US Conference of Catholic

Bishops recently put out a statement

suggesting that the the war does not fit

the requirements of just war theory. And

I wondered if the Pentagon had uh

thought about uh this war against the

terrorist regime in Iran in terms of the

framework of a just war and if either

one of you could talk about that. And

then just my my second question would be

um the Pentagon recently this week uh

gave welldeserved

um award upgrades to the members of Golf

Company 21 Marines who served at HKIA

and Abbey Gate during the withdrawal and

evacuation. Um I wonder if you you Mr.

secretary could speak a little bit about

that and maybe give us a little bit more

in terms of um what to expect from this

uh Afghanistan review in terms of uh

further proper recognition and proper

accountability.

>> Um on the first question, Pope's going

to do his thing. That's fine. Uh we know

what our mission is. We know what

authority we have. We're very clear

about that. We follow that uh the orders

of the president. We've got uh lawyers

all over the place looking at what we're

doing and why we're doing it and giving

us every authority necessary under the

Constitution and under our laws to

execute it. So, we feel very confident

across the spectrum about what we're

doing and why we're doing the legal

justification that we're following in

order to do it. Uh you mentioned the

Marines at Abby Gate. Uh and you know

what we've undertaken at this department

is a historic uh Afghanistan review. So

we have over the course of months

reviewed what happened leading up to and

including the events at Abbey Gate and

the disastrous withdrawal in

Afghanistan. There's never actually been

a full accounting in this department of

the decisions that were made. There's

been sort of papered over congressional

attempts but never a real deep dive

where we brought all everybody in to

talk about what happened and why it

happened. That has happened. That review

will come uh later this summer. And I

think you'll find it to be probably the

most comprehensive review this

department has ever done about a single

series of events. And it's because the

the cascading effect of what Joe Biden

did in abandoning uh that mission the

way that he did and that disastrous

withdrawal had ripple effects for our

military, for our country, and for the

world. That's why reestablishing

deterrence is one of the core pillars of

what we've been doing at the War

Department is because the world looked

at that disaster and made choices.

Vladimir Putin made choices. Hamas made

choices and saw that America wouldn't do

anything about it. Houthis shot at

ships. They made choices because Joe

Biden and his administration were seen

as feckless and weak. And that

withdrawal was a part of what the world

saw. People clanging to planes as we as

we fled. That deserves a full

accounting, which is exactly what we're

doing. Sean Parnell, uh, our chief

spokesman, one of my senior adviserss,

has been leading that effort, getting to

the bottom of it. And one of the

revelations was that those Marines at

Abbey Gate who showed courage, who were

out there exposed, knew there was a

threat, nebulous mission, the only gate

that's open did not receive the kind of

proper recognition they should have for

their heroism. So one of the early

results of this Afghan review is to

ensure they get the due recognition and

award they deserve for the heroism and

courage they showed at that gate.

Despite the bad decisions of this

building and that administration, those

Marines acted heroically and we're going

to recognize them for that. Jerry, thank

you. Yeah, right here.

>> Thank you. Michael Casey with O'Keefe

Media Group. Um, earlier this week,

James O'Keefe published a story on

Department of Army nuclear chief Andrew

Hug, who revealed top secret national

security information to a stranger he

met on a dating app. Will you defer Mr.

Hug for termination and prosecution?

>> Yeah, he won't work here anymore. And um

given the revelations, will an easy one,

>> will any changes be made to the current

anti-espionage training for all

Department of War employees now given

this?

>> Well, we're always on the lookout for CI

threats, any internal threats, anyone

talking out of school about things they

should not. We take leaking very

seriously here, informally or formally.

Uh which is why some of the reporting

done by some of the people in here is

incredibly problematic. They're willing

to publish things based on classified

information that would potentially harm

those in harm's way. And we think them

doing so is incredibly irresponsible and

unpatriotic. And it would encourage

members of the press to think twice

about the lives they're affecting when

they publish things in their publica in

their publications like the New York

Times.

>> Mr. Chairman, was the TUSA carrying used

equipment to China?

>> Sir, I'm sorry. The question is right

here.

>> Thank you. Uh Ryan Morgan with the Epic

Times. Uh earlier this week uh on that

topic uh there was a report I believe

with the Washington Post that the

Pentagon had briefed Congress that it

could take up to 6 months to fully sweep

uh the straight of form for mines. Um I

I was wondering if you could comment a

little bit more on the specifics of the

timeline, the range of uh of time that

it could take and then just a general

idea of how many how many mines have

been placed.

>> We would not speculate on a timeline. I

saw that report. It was based on again

another leak from a closed door session

which was supposed to be classified and

uh apparently allegedly that was

something that was said about we feel

confident in our ability uh in the

correct period of time to clear any

minds uh that we identify and would

encourage other countries to be a part

of such an effort as well but we're

tracking that very closely. Uh Mr.

Chairman, do you want to add anything to

that?

>> No sir, I think you covered it

>> right here. New members of our press

here.

>> Uh Jacob Lassermanman with TMZDC. Uh,

I'm We have two questions. I'm gonna ask

the first, my colleague will ask the

second. You know, I've heard you talk a

lot about bombing.

>> Sorry.

>> We'll see.

>> Okay. Uh, I've heard you talk a lot

about bombing people and places. And

when you give these orders to carry out

this extreme level of violence, what's

going through your mind and your body?

Do you have like an adrenaline rush? Are

you scared? Do you feel like you're on a

power trip? just walk us through and

paint us a picture of what it feels like

mentally and physically.

>> It's a very TMZ question. Um, my only

thought process is to ensure that our

war fighters have everything they need

to be successful, defeat and destroy the

enemy and they come home. Uh, that they

I want them to feel empowered to have

every authority they need within our

rules and within our law to bring

maximum violence to the enemy because

war is violent. Uh war uh requires doing

difficult things, but I want our people

to feel empowered. So it's our guys that

come home and their guys that do not.

>> Sure. I'll give you one one chance.

>> Uh Charlie Cotton from TMZDC. Uh you

changed the Department of Defense to the

Department of War. Would you consider

changing the name again to the

Department of Peace since that's what

we're all after?

>> Well, that's the pursuit. It's a great

question, actually. uh you go from

defense to war because you want to be

proactive about peace through strength

and and and and really I I gave a speech

in front of generals about what what the

ethos of the war department is all about

because I wanted to go through every

echelon of this department. It means

something. It's not just words. And when

you fight a war the right way, the idea

is on the other side you bring about

peace. Uh that is what we'd like to see

the most. In fact, I once did a video

about the the one institution that

should win the Nobel Peace Prize every

single year is the United States

military because we are the guarantor of

the safety and security of not just of

our country but of a lot of people in

this world. Last question. Yes, sir.

>> Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. I do

appreciated your time. Since February

28, 725

drones and missiles have hit the

Kurdistan region as your loyal ally,

>> killing 22 people and injuring 100

others. Even after the ceasefire, Mr.

Secretary, 20 more attacks were carried

out. My question is does that ceasefire

include Iraq and the Kurdistan region

and really what is your clear policy

toward proxies?

Why I am asking this question

>> by President Masoud Barzani statement

five times targeting his office

>> even targeting president of Kurdistan

region residents in the hawk city. We

watch it very closely and and that area

and those those folks, the Kurds deal

with a lot of what the IMGs or the

proxies are capable of doing and a

reminder of the reverberating effect of

this Iranian regime. It's not just what

it does to its own people, killing

45,000 of its own citizens just

recently, but it's also the terror

they've brought to the region. And so

getting a good deal and making sure they

can't wield a nuclear weapon over top of

those proxies is why this mission is

such an important one. Thank you very

much.