【By Observer News, Chen Sijia】On the morning of March 2 local time, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine held a press conference to report on the U.S. strike against Iran. CNN pointed out that this was the first time that senior U.S. government officials have publicly discussed the military action against Iran, and it was also the first press conference held by the Pentagon in three months.

Austin stated that the goal of the military operation "was not to overthrow the Iranian regime," "this is not a so-called regime change war, but the Iranian leadership has indeed changed, and the world will be better for it." He insisted that the United States "did not start a war," but claimed that Iran has been conducting a so-called "unilateral war" against the United States, and President Trump "is trying to end the war."

Austin said that the military action against Iran is different from the Iraq War, and the United States "will not fall into a war quagmire again." He said, "This is not Iraq, not an endless one. This operation has clear, destructive, decisive tasks: destroy missile threats, destroy the navy, and prevent nuclear weapons."

Austin continued to find excuses for the U.S. attack, stating that Iran refused the "peaceful and reasonable" agreement proposed by the United States, with the aim of "buying time to replenish missile stocks and restart the nuclear program," "but President Trump doesn't play this game."

Subsequently, Caine reported on the progress of the U.S. military action. He stated that the military action against Iran is still in the "early stage," and more U.S. troops will continue to be deployed to the Middle East, with expected more U.S. casualties.

Photo of the press conference between the U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Caine

Caine said, "This is not a single action that can be completed overnight. Achieving the military objectives assigned to the U.S. Central Command and joint forces takes time, and in some cases, it will be difficult work. We expect more losses, but as always, we will do everything possible to minimize U.S. losses."

Additionally, Caine detailed the timeline of the U.S. military strike. He revealed that at 15:38 Eastern Time on February 27, the U.S. Central Command received instructions from Austin, quoting President Trump's words: "The 'Epic Fury' operation is approved and will not be stopped. Good luck. End."

Caine added that at 9:45 a.m. local time on February 28, more than 100 aircraft took off from ground and sea bases, and the Israeli Defense Forces launched the first strike with support from the U.S. intelligence community.

After Caine's speech, U.S. media asked questions to the two. When asked if U.S. ground forces had entered Iran, Austin responded, "No. But we will not discuss what we will or will not do." He refused to reveal how long the U.S. military action would last, stating that Trump would decide the duration, "it could be earlier or postponed."

Previously, Trump told The Daily Telegraph that, "We have always expected four weeks. We also estimated that it would take two to three weeks to eliminate part of the Iranian leadership, but we solved it all in one day, far ahead of schedule. They really wanted to reach an agreement, I told you that you should have done it a week ago."

Caine also mentioned that the U.S. air defense system had intercepted hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles targeting U.S. forces and their allies. However, he also admitted that some Iranian missiles hit U.S. military bases as well as Israel and some Arab countries.

Caine also said that more U.S. fighter jets would arrive at the front lines in the coming days, allowing the U.S. to "achieve the expected level of overall combat capability and scale." He refused to disclose the specific number of troops involved in the plan.

The New York Times pointed out that this is the first time the Trump administration has tried to explain the specific performance of U.S. forces in the military action against Iran, but during the approximately 40-minute press conference, neither Austin nor Caine provided more information about the expected goals of the military action. BBC also noted that Austin did not reveal much about the specific scope and duration of the U.S. military operation.

The U.S. and Israel launched a military strike against Iran on February 28, in which Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei was killed, along with several high-ranking officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Musavi, the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammad Pakpour, the Secretary of the Defense Council Ali Shamkhani, and the Minister of Defense Aziz Nasirzadeh.

Iran later retaliated against Israel and the U.S., and launched missiles and drones against U.S. targets in several Middle Eastern countries.

At night on March 1 local time, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards released the eighth notice of the "True Promise 4" operation, stating that up to now, the Iranian counterattack "has caused 560 U.S. casualties." In addition, on February 28, in an Iranian missile attack on the UAE, a residence of a CIA official in the area became a target, resulting in the death of six senior CIA officials and two injured.

The U.S. Central Command announced on the 2nd that as of 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time on March 2, four U.S. personnel had been killed in the operation. The fourth soldier died from severe injuries sustained in the first wave of attacks.

The U.S. Central Command also issued a statement confirming that three U.S. F-15E fighter jets were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait. The statement said the incident occurred at around 8 a.m. local time on the 2nd, when the U.S. fighter jets were shot down by Kuwaiti air defense fire, with all six crew members safely ejected and rescued, and currently in stable condition. Kuwait has acknowledged the incident.

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Original: toutiao.com/article/7612658130320687654/

Statement: The article represents the personal views of the author.