Defense & National Security Newsletter Pentagon previews next big wave for Iran by Ellen Mitchell - 03/04/26 5:34 PM ET by Ellen Mitchell - 03/04/26 5:34 PM ET Share ✕ LinkedIn LinkedIn Email Email 96 Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & NatSec newsletter {beacon} Defense & National Security Defense & National Security   The Big Story  Pentagon previews next big wave for Iran Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and America’s top general on Wednesday morning previewed a major bombing campaign on Iran . © Photo Credit “ More and larger waves are coming. We are just getting started. We are accelerating, not decelerating. Iran’s capabilities are evaporating by the hour, while American strength grows fiercer, smarter and utterly dominant,” Hegseth said during a press conference.   “More bombers, fighters are arriving just today. And now with complete control of the skies , we will be using 500-pound, 1000-pound and 2000-pound GPS-and-laser-guided precision gravity bombs, which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile,” he added.    Hegseth noted that the U.S. had largely been using standoff munitions — such as cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles fired from ships or ground positions — in the campaign so far.    Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine said the waves of strikes thus far had degraded Iran’s defensive abilities enough to clear the skies for overhead bombing using GPS-aided free-fall weapons and hellfire missiles.   “This will allow the joint force to deliver significantly increased precision effects on the target. The throttle is coming up , as the secretary said, as opposed to ramping down,” he said. “This will allow us to maintain consistent pressure on the adversary over the coming days, disrupt their launch timelines and impose costs every day around the clock.”   Both Hegseth and Caine said the U.S. and Israeli joint strikes have had a devastating impact on Iran’s ability to target U.S. and Israeli aircraft.    However, Iran has continued to launch waves of attacks on U.S. ground assets across the region, killing six American troops in a strike on Kuwait over the weekend. Hegseth said that 90 percent of U.S. forces in the region were out of range of Iranian fire.    Caine said Iran had fired more than 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2,000 drones at Israel and Gulf states hosting U.S. bases, at times striking civilian targets.    The joint U.S.-Israeli assault has also taken a heavy civilian toll. At least 1 75 people , mostly children, were killed in a strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran on Saturday, according to Iranian officials and state media.   More than 870 people have been killed in the war so far, mostly in Iran, but also in Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Israel.   Read the full report at thehill.com .   Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads   How policy will affect defense and national security now and in the future:   Leavitt says Americans stranded in Middle East had prior warning not to travel White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that Americans who are reporting being stranded in various parts of the Middle East as a result of Iranian retaliation to U.S. strikes were given prior warnings to evacuate. U.S. officials have advised citizens overseas to use a 24/7 hotline and enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive updates on potential opportunities to evacuate but have …  Full Story   Live updates: Leavitt gives testy briefing amid Iran strikes; Trump to endorse in Texas Senate race ‘soon’ President Trump on Wednesday said anyone who wants to be the next supreme leader of Iran ends up “dead,” as the U.S. military steps up its strikes against the Middle Eastern country. Trump’s comments, at a roundtable with tech companies focused on his ratepayer protection pledge, came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine said “more and larger” strikes on …  Full Story   Fox News poll: Majority says Trump’s handling of Iran has made US less safe A majority of American voters believe that President Trump’s relationship with Iran has made the U.S. less safe, according to a new poll. In the Fox News poll, 51 percent of respondents said the president’s relationship with Iran has increased risk for the U.S. Twenty-nine percent in the poll said Trump’s relationship with Iran has increased secur