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Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine Hold Press Briefing; Analysis of Iran Press Briefing; Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) is Interviewed about Iran. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 13, 2026 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:30:00]

REPORTER: If so, can you tell us why? Thank you.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, with an issue of your first topic, an issue of such seriousness, we don't -- we're not going to let reporting lead us or force our hand into indicating what happened in a particular situation because the truth matters. So, I can report that CENTCOM has designated an investigating officer to complete a command investigation. The command investigation will take as long as necessary to address all the matters surrounding this incident. And the investigating officer is from outside CENTCOM and is a -- is a general officer. But I will note to this group and to the world, there's only one entity in this conflict between us and Iran that never targets civilians, literally never targets civilians. I look at the process that's used on dynamic strikes or on boat strikes and others. We have a very high-fidelity process in that case.

So, we don't target. Iran does. We will investigate. We will get to the truth. And we'll share it when we have it. Absolutely.

And what was the second --

REPORTER: About the Strait of Hormuz. About the Navy, Secretary Wright --

GENERAL DAN CAINE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: It's -- I mean it's a tactically complex environment. And before I think we want to take anything through there at scale, we want to make sure that we do the work pursuant to our current military objectives to do -- to do that safely and smartly. So, we're continuing to develop options.

HEGSETH: And we do a lot of work.

CAINE: Yes.

HEGSETH: And like I said, this is a -- it is dynamic, but this is, I think, almost by 20 percent the largest day of strikes. And as I said, our intelligence just gets better and better. That feedback loop feeds itself. And as we refine those targets, it exponentially increases what we can hit and why to include strategic things the world's talking about and looking at. And it's our job to have a plan for it, which we do, to address it and ensure that the president has options. We've done that from the beginning in this department. He'll have options on that -- on that topic as well.

Right here.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) the United States (INAUDIBLE), sir?

REPORTER: Well, thank you.

HEGSETH: Investigation is an investigation. That's what it is. It doesn't mean anything other than that.

Yes.

RYAN MORGAN, REPORTER, "THE EPOCH TIMES": Ryan Morgan with "The Epoch Times."

Regarding today's busy day of strikes, last week you guys discussed the progress of the air campaign to gain air superiority and to transition from these standoff weapons launched at range to more overhead strikes. Can you now say that these strikes today are going to rely entirely on stand-in, over the top weapons, or are standoff range weapons still in play?

HEGSETH: That's a great question. I can say, based on the report I read this morning at 0600, only one percent of the munitions we're using today are standoff munitions. The rest are over the top, the types of which we have a plethora, which was -- which was our goal from the beginning. You use standoff, which are more exquisite. You transition to a much larger magazine depth, ensuring that you're preserving all the capabilities you have and your options across the force. Absolutely.

REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, has Iran placed any mines since the war started?

HEGSETH: Right here.

REPORTER: Is Iran placing new mines?

HEGSETH: We've heard them talk about it, just like you've reported recklessly and wildly about it.

REPORTER: I haven't reported (INAUDIBLE) --

HEGSETH: But there's -- we have no clear evidence. We have no clear evidence of that.

REPORTER: Thank you, sir.

HEGSETH: Right here.

REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, given everything the U.S. have accomplished in the last 24 hours, as of today, how do you define success in this military option? And has that definition change from day one? And also regarding Iran government telling countries hosting U.S. American bases that they could face attacks, what is the Pentagon doing about that? HEGSETH: First question is what is the objective?

REPORTER: How do you define success as of today?

HEGSETH: Yes, I mean, we -- like, we define success, again, 13 -- 12 days in, 13 days in, by reaching the military objectives that we've laid out, launchers, missile launchers, defense industrial base, their navy, the ability to project power in the naval sense, leading toward denying them to get a nuclear weapon. And we've got internal metrics that look at that, that we represent to the president, who then can decide how long he'd like to continue in pursuit of those military objectives. So, that hasn't changed. There's a lot of things a lot of people talk about, what they want us to do or what we should do or what we should stay focused on.

And again, I've addressed this before, and I think it's worth saying again, mission creep or expansive missions or prolonged timelines or democracy building or nation building, you name it, has not been part of what President Trump wants us to be involved in. We're solving for something here, this particular mission set. But also recognizing this country's conditioned to previous leaders, whether it's George W. Bush or Barack Obama or Joe Biden, who had these expansive, nebulous mission sets that kept changing all the time. So, the timeline kept moving. And we kept pouring more troops in and on the ground. And then pretty soon everyone wonders, like I did in Afghanistan in 2012, what's our mission here? I'm not -- I'm not clear what it is.

We're taking the opposite approach here and saying, we've defined these objectives. We're pursuing those objectives. The president has his hand on the throttle and will decide ultimately when they've been reached that serve the purposes of the United States of America, American interests first.

[08:35:07]

REPORTER: And regarding today -- in regard to the --

(CROSS TALK)

HEGSETH: Yes, right here.

REPORTER: Thank you, Secretary Hegseth.

Polls show over 80 percent of Republicans support the president's military action in Iran. But there's some consternation in parts of the party, particularly from your fellow Fox News alum, Tucker Carlson. He called the war disgusting and evil, and then said of unconditional surrender, which the president has called for, means foreign troops get to rape your wives and daughters. Have you heard these comments and what's your reaction to them?

HEGSETH: We're busy executing on behalf of great patriotic Americans with a clear mission that's 47 years overdue. And we're going to execute on that regardless of what people say about it.

Yes, right here. REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, you have said that the U.S. military has

essentially aerial superiority, naval superiority over Iran, yet we're not escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Why? How did you not plan for this?

HEGSETH: We planned for it.

REPORTER: Why aren't you --

HEGSETH: We recognize it. Because, ultimately, we want to do it sequentially in a way that makes the most sense for what we want to achieve and ensure that we're sending the right signals to the world when we do so.

So, when Chris Wright speaks or we speak, it's based on a full assessment of what we're -- what we're up against, what we want to say to the world, how we want them to see and understand the conflict. It's like this whole idea of the war widening. That's what the press wants to make it look like, like it's widening and chaos is ensuing.

You know, we're actually closing in on grabbing hold of and controlling what objectives we want to achieve and how we want to achieve them. Shape -- it's called shaping operations and setting the conditions. But when you shape the environment, you don't always tell -- I mean foolish political leaders and foolish military leaders of the past will hang an exact deadline on it, or here's exactly when we'll do what we're going to do, or here's how long it's going to take us. And then if you meet that, maybe you meet it. But if you don't, you fail. And if you're far beyond -- we know exactly what we're shaping and why. We're sending those signals, working across the interagency. The Strait of Hormuz is something we've paid attention to from the beginning. And the American people can rest assured we will ensure that our interests are advanced, no doubt.

Yes, right there. Green jacket.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz?

MIKE BREST, REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Mike Brest with "The Washington Examiner."

How many American casualties have there been, and where were the American service members when they were injured?

CAINE: I mean, it's -- a bunch have returned to duty.

HEGSETH: Yes.

CAINE: So, we've had a whole -- the large, large majority have gone in for some medical treatment, returned to duty. We've had, in Kuwait, Jordan, down across the southern flank a little bit, of a variety of places, most from one-way attack strikes.

HEGSETH: But I want to clarify that. I think what we try to do here --

CAINE: And Saudi Arabia. Yes, somebody asked -- HEGSETH: Is clarify those numbers rather than saying --

CAINE: Yes.

HEGSETH: KIA or WI wounded, be more clear about that.

CAINE: Yes.

HEGSETH: Because the overwhelming majority, almost 90 percent, thank God --

CAINE: Yes.

HEGSETH: Are return to duty. Minor, minor injuries return to duty. And so that number can look a certain way. And our job is to add some fidelity to it.

Right here. Yes.

(CROSS TALK)

DAVID ZERE, REPORTER, "REAL AMERICA'S VOICE": Thank you, Mr. Secretary. David Zere of "Real America's Voice."

Can you share what types of munitions have been used on the attacks on commercial shipping? Have any hit mines? And are USVs, unmanned surface vehicles, being used? And just a quick follow-up, were there any arrests in Fort Campbell with the drone thefts?

CAINE: I'm not familiar with the Fort Campbell thing.

The strikes that Iran has taken on shipping up north in the vicinity of Kuwait have been, I believe, from surface to surface missiles up there. We've not seen any USV activity out of Iran that we've seen in the gulf at this point.

HEGSETH: Nor have any ships hit mines or anything like that. It's still flowing through the strait.

CAINE: Yes, there's been no -- yes, thank you. There's been no strikes that we've --

HEGSETH: Absolutely.

One more time. Right here.

HEATHER MULLINS, REPORTER, LINDELL TV: Thank you so much. Heather Mullins, Lindell TV.

My first question is, President Trump is set to meet with Xi Jinping in a couple weeks. How much support, if any, has China been giving the Iranian regime?

And then the second question, just, you know, I know President Trump calling for an unconditional surrender from Iran. Given that the U.S. is working in partnership with Israel on this whole operation, is Iran expected to meet demands of both countries or just the U.S.? And what are those demands?

HEGSETH: Well, we're proud to partner with the incredible capabilities of the Iranians -- or, excuse me, the Israelis have. But our objectives are our objectives. And so, when those are met, as we meet those, we'll set the -- we'll set the tempo of when those are met.

What was the first question?

MULLINS: He's meeting with Xi Jinping in a couple weeks. What's China's role in all of this?

HEGSETH: Oh, yes. The president has a -- has a historic relationship with President Xi. They look forward to having a dynamic conversation. Two powers. President Trump ultimately has established terms of that relationship, which advanced the United States of America. And that meeting will continue to ensure we advance that. That's all I've got. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

[08:40:02]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Very notable press briefing from the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, and the chair of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine. I would say the most defensive we have seen Pete Hegseth in any of these briefings.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

BERMAN: He led off, not with mentioning the four airmen lost over Iraq and the refueling tanker, although he did get to that ultimately.

BOLDUAN: He did. Yes.

BERMAN: Dan Caine led with that. But the secretary led with an attack on the press.

I think most notably, in terms of where things stand in the conflict, the secretary was talking a great deal about the Strait of Hormuz and the fact that there is really almost no shipping passing through, and the reports that the United States, I think, may be behind in dealing with this. The secretary said that Iran is operating with desperation in the strait. He said the United States is dealing with it. The United States has been dealing with it. And most notably, the secretary says, we don't need to worry about it.

BOLDUAN: But also, on the Strait of Hormuz, because the Joint Chiefs chairman was asked about it as well. And General Dan Caine said very clearly, described Hormuz as a tactically complex environment. And he says, before I think we want to take anything through there at scale, we want to make sure we do the work pursuant to our current military objectives, to do that safely and smartly. Just on the heels of President Trump saying in a new interview with Fox News, telling tankers that they should show some guts and just start moving through because he says the strait is safe.

BERMAN: I think also responding very notably to the secretary of energy's interview with you yesterday, Kate, where the secretary said, we are not yet ready to escort the tankers through. Neither the secretary nor the chair did anything to dispute that.

BOLDUAN: Correct.

BERMAN: The chair, quite the opposite, noting that Iran still very much has capability in the strait there.

BOLDUAN: So, there's a lot to work through here. Let's take a quick break, and we're going to talk much more about what we've just learned from the Pentagon right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:53]

BOLDUAN: All right, welcome back.

We just -- we were listening to the latest update coming from the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs chairman at the Pentagon on the latest on the war with Iran.

Let's bring in right now CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid, as well as Natasha Bertrand and Oren Liebermann to talk about this.

Barak, I just wanted to go to you first.

There was a lot that was said. We heard from the defense secretary, as John had characterized it, seeming more on defensive than he has in the daily briefings we've heard up to this point. What did you hear in this briefing that stuck out?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: So, I think the most interesting thing to me was the fact that the secretary of defense, for the first time, first official statement by the Trump administration about Iran's new supreme leader, Khamenei's health and medical condition, saying that he's been wounded and likely disfigured. And it is interesting because, on Wednesday, in a virtual meeting with the G-7 leaders, President Trump referred to Khamenei's condition, and he said, he's not in good shape. And President Trump told the G-7 leaders that because of Khamenei's situation, it is not clear whether there's -- because he claimed that Iran is about to surrender. And he said that because of Khamenei's condition it's not clear who in Iran can announce the surrender.

But I think that what Hegseth said today, referred to it first saying, Khamenei's wounded, likely disfigured. And he added that it's not clear who's in charge in Iran at the moment.

BERMAN: It is notable that he said that. Barak, based on your reporting, is the president saying that he thinks Iran wants to surrender and is about to surrender in line with what the strategic commanders believe is happening right now inside Iran and very much on the ground?

RAVID: The short answer is no. And the longer answer is, that everything I hear from both U.S. officials and Israeli officials that are deeply in the intelligence of what's going on in Iran, and they say that the Iranians are not about to surrender. It doesn't mean that the Iranians are in good shape. They're not. There are cracks inside the Iranian regime. It has been destabilized. But it doesn't mean that it's about to collapse or that the Iranians are about to raise a white flag.

BOLDUAN: Natasha, also there is a very keen focus on the Strait of Hormuz in this briefing. We heard from Secretary Hegseth talking about, the world is seeing they're exercising sheer desperation in the Strait of Hormuz, something we are dealing with. We have been dealing with. And the secretary says, and don't need to worry about it. Is that -- speaking about alignment of messages and reality, is that an alignment?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the administration is clearly extremely worried about it. They're going after Iran's mine laying vessels very aggressively. They're going after their small boats, which are capable of laying mines as well in the strait.

And they didn't have a good answer either, General Caine or Pete Hegseth, about just when it would be safe for the Navy to start escorting ships through that waterway. And multiple sources have told me and my colleagues in recent days that laying mines in that strait is, in fact, the ultimate act of desperation by the Iranians. They can't really come back from that. It is very difficult to get rid of mines that are laid in the strait. Hegseth said that there has been no evidence that he has seen that they're doing so. We are told differently.

But it seems at this point like there's an acknowledgment here that it is not safe for the U.S. Navy to escort ships through the waterway, and that it is unclear when it's actually going to be safe.

Secretary Hegseth said that we want to do it sequentially, this escort operation, and send the right signals to the world when we do so. Completely unclear what that means. And he was asked by a reporter, you say you have air superiority over Iran.

[08:50:03]

You say that you are kind of, you know, pummeling them into submission. So, why was there no plan for Iran to close the strait? Well, my colleagues are reporting that they didn't expect Iran to actually go that far. And again, it is an act of desperation, but it's one that the U.S. does not seem to have been prepared for.

BERMAN: One other note here, and then, Oren Liebermann, I'm going to bring you in here. I do want to say this just because it did come up. The secretary was asked directly about the attack on the girls school, which may have killed more than 100 students there.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: He wouldn't address it other than to say that it's being investigated. He talked about the fact that the reporting -- he's not going to let the reporting on it lead them in the investigation or his comments. Of course, President Trump initially blamed the Iranians for the attack. That does not appear to be the case.

Oren, on a separate subject, back to what Barak Ravid reporting on the supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, who released a paper statement, if it was him yesterday, we only heard it read out loud, what's currently the thinking inside Israel about the Iranian leadership and whether it has structure, because the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had a little bit of a different tone about the leadership and what might happen politically in Iran over the coming weeks.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Israel is fully aware that the Iranian regime is still, at least in some part, intact. And it might not be the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It might be his son, who is leading it, even if we haven't seen it yet. But Netanyahu has made it clear his son also remains a target. Israel assassinated the elder Khamenei and said that the younger Khamenei isn't able to show himself at this point.

Regardless, Israel has made clear, it will continue to target the succession of the Iranian regime. But whether it's Khamenei junior or some other member of the Iranian regime or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that's in charge, it is still the Iranian regime intact and at least able to continue launching missiles, continue waging war.

And keep in mind, even as the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs there said they have destroyed Iran's air force and navy, that's not how Iran fights, and that's not how it's been preparing to fight. They have prepared for asymmetric warfare for being able to hit the economy by striking energy and oil infrastructure. They have threatened they would light gulf energy and oil infrastructure, quote, on fire if Iran's energy infrastructure were targeted. That's the war they're fighting, closing the Strait of Hormuz. That is where they're effective. And Israel is fully aware that it doesn't seem like this war will topple the regime on its own, instead telling the Iranian people it's up to them at some point in the future.

BOLDUAN: Oren, thanks for that reporting. Barak and Natasha, thank you both for your reporting on this and sticking around. Really appreciate it.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Congressman Gregory Meeks, Democrat from New York, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

And, Congressman, I know you were listening to that briefing. And if you have it, I just want to replay for you and the audience, the secretary of defense commenting on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: They are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz. Something we're dealing with. We have been dealing with it. And don't need to worry about it. We're on plan to defeat, destroy, disable all of their meaningful military capabilities at a pace the world has never seen before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Don't need to worry about it. Do you agree, Congressman?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): No, I absolutely don't agree. Look, not only do you see prices going up here in the United States and around the world, you know, one of the things that, because of oil, also what's happening at that straight, you know, fertilizer goes through. We could also have a -- nothing is going through there at all. So, therefore, that can cause a famine to start taking place. And I have a lot to worry about. Our troops that are out there. I have a lot to worry about them. It seems that listening to the secretary of defense, he seemed to be cavalier about some of that. General Caine seemed to get a little different about that.

And when I listened and what I heard was, there was a difference. I saw that Secretary Hegseth cut off Senator Caine -- I mean General Caine a number of times. And so, I'm hearing, you know, this bravado from the secretary, but I'm hearing a little different tune even from General Caine in that regards. And he seems to be more concerned about our men and women in the service than the secretary does.

BERMAN: We heard from the secretary kind of the first official confirmation of the belief that the new supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the former ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, who was killed, that he has been wounded, the secretary said he might be disfigured, and called him weak. Yesterday, the supreme leader, there was a paper statement released in his name that was read out loud. If he is, in fact, weakened, disfigured, wounded, how does that change the situation?

[08:55:05]

MEEKS: I don't think it changes the situation at all. I think that the situation -- well, number one, you know, we don't know what the mission really is because it seems as though, depending upon who you talk to and why we got into this war of choice, it changes every day. You hear one thing from the secretary of defense, another thing from the secretary of state, another thing from the president of the United States. So, it seems to be all over the place. Another thing from the secretary of energy. So, I don't think that they know. I don't think that they have planned this out. And when you don't plan, then you plan to fail. And I think that's what the situation is here. They don't know what they're going to do, so they really can't say. They don't come to Congress to say to us, this is what the plan is. They don't come to the American people to lay out, this is what we think is going to happen, you know, as always has taken place in Congress before, this is how we're going to deal with it. That does not happen that way. Why? I don't think they have a plan and they -- they're winging it. BERMAN: Very quickly. The United States removing sanctions on Russian

oil that is already at sea in order, presumably, to alleviate some of the pressures on oil prices that have been going up because of the closure of the strait. How do you feel about lifting those sanctions?

MEEKS: I feel terrible about lifting those sanctions. I have a bill trying to put more sanctions on Russia. And this president has always seemed to be having this relationship with Russia where they believe Russia more than they believe our own intelligence. And we've seen that again, saying when they said they've got to trust what the Russians say when, in fact, our intelligence are saying that Russia is giving the Iranians some of the locations of American bases and where American troops are. And yet we're going to ease the sanctions on Russia not doing and ever have put any pressure on Russia, even as it is involved in -- with Ukraine. And I am starting to feel a similarity here because Russia, they went into Ukraine. Remember, it was supposed to be one week and it's been four years. And I'm seeing something starting to happen here that seems to be eerily similar.

BERMAN: Congressman Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much.

Obviously, we are getting new reaction in from the defense secretary. What we just heard from him in the chair of the Joint Chiefs. The situation in and around the Strait of Hormuz. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)