\u201cYou, Iran, can choose a prosperous future, a golden bridge, and we hope that you do for the people of Iran. In the meantime, and for as long as it takes, we will maintain this blockade, this successful blockade. But if Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power and energy,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cAnd at the same time, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and our friends over at [the Treasury Department] are launching Operation Economic Fury as well, maximizing economic pressure across the entirety of the government to Iran. Choose wisely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control revealed on Wednesday that it has been intensifying pressure<\/a> on Iran\u2019s allegedly criminally-run oil transportation infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n OFAC sanctioned more than two dozen individuals, companies, and vessels operating within the network of Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani. He\u2019s the son of senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani, who was killed by U.S. strikes on the first day of the war.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTreasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,\u201d Bessent said in a statement. \u201cUnder President Trump\u2019s leadership, Treasury will continue to cut off Iran\u2019s illicit smuggling and terror proxy networks. Financial institutions should be on notice that Treasury will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran\u2019s terrorist activities.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, earlier this month, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg formally established a new organization to lead Pentagon efforts that fuse economic leverage and requirements into joint U.S. military planning and operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although senior defense officials did not explicitly call out the Pentagon\u2019s new Economic Defense Unit<\/a> in Thursday\u2019s briefing, their comments signaled how the government is augmenting the war effort with economic pressure against Iran amid the fragile ceasefire.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are reloading with more power than ever before and, even more importantly, better intelligence than ever before. As you expose yourself with your movements to our watchful eye, we are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry. We\u2019d rather not have to do it, but we\u2019re ready to go at the command of our president and at the push of the button,\u201d Hegseth said, addressing Iran from the podium. \u201cThis blockade, which the chairman will detail this morning, is the polite way that this can go.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump launched Epic Fury on Feb. 28. Since the start, Hegseth and other senior defense officials have repeatedly billed it as a U.S.-led, Israel-coordinated military operation to destroy<\/a> Iran\u2019s leadership, ballistic missile and drone capabilities, naval power, manufacturing capacity and nuclear infrastructure.<\/p>\n In response, Iran has attacked the U.S. military and a variety of sites around the Middle East with deadly drone and missile barrages<\/a>, and at times suspended nearly all maritime traffic flowing on a major global shipping route and chokepoint for oil near the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n At a congressional hearing<\/a> Thursday, Marine Lt. Gen. James Adams, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told members<\/a> of a House Armed Services subcommittee that Iran still \u201cretains thousands of missiles and one-way attack UAVs that can threaten U.S. and partner forces throughout the region, despite degradations to its capabilities from both attrition and expenditure.\u201d<\/p>\n At least 13 U.S. military fatalities have been confirmed, including six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers who were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait in the early days of the war.<\/p>\n Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, Centcom\u2019s spokesperson, told DefenseScoop that in total 398 U.S. troops have been wounded in action as of April 16, with 358 having returned to duty and three currently characterized as seriously wounded.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I\u2019ve met many who were reported as wounded and are back [in the fight],\u201d Cooper said at the Pentagon briefing. \u201cIt can give you a sense of purpose and motivation. We have collected dozens \u2014 if not hundreds \u2014 of lessons learned. And as we sit here right now, the joint force across the board has taken them and is very tactically applying them.\u201d<\/p>\n The Centcom commander said he\u2019d just returned from his second trip to the Middle East in the past 15 days. On both, he visited U.S. service members, who are deployed in the region across more than 70 different locations.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent time with our troops who are employing cutting-edge tactics and technology for the first time in warfare. I won\u2019t be able to talk about what those are, but these young men and women are breaking new ground,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cI met with teams who launched our own one-way attack drones<\/a> into Iran. These were originally Iranian-designed drones that we brought back to America, took their guts out, put a \u2018Made in America\u2019 stamp on it, and fired them right back to Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n He also connected with teams who he said \u201care employing AI every single day to help us sift through vast amounts of information, to help us make decisions faster\u201d \u2014 as well as Space Force guardians and cybersecurity specialists \u201cwhose work cannot be discussed, but who serve with indispensable impact,\u201d Cooper noted.<\/p>\n
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