Senior American military commanders reportedly warn Defense Secretary Hegseth that a long-term deployment against Iran is unsustainable. The post Iran war has gone on ‘much too long’ for American forces, officers warn – report appeared first on World Israel News .
Senior American military commanders reportedly warn Defense Secretary Hegseth that a long-term deployment against Iran is unsustainable.
By World Israel News Staff
Senior US military commanders have warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that sustaining the current level of military operations against Iran is placing mounting pressure on American forces and could leave the United States less prepared to respond to threats elsewhere.
The concerns were raised in a classified Pentagon assessment dated August 14 that examined the worldwide availability of US personnel, ships, aircraft and weapons.
Senior officers concluded that after six months of fighting, the Iran campaign had become “too much for too long,” with one person familiar with the assessment describing the military’s overall outlook as “more dire” than the routine risk warnings commanders normally provide.
Commanders responsible for US operations in Europe, the Indo-Pacific and Latin America reportedly objected to extending some of the forces they have been required to provide to US Central Command.
Although those commanders will comply with orders from Washington, their formal objections reflect growing concern that concentrating American military power in the Middle East is weakening readiness elsewhere.
Officials at European Command and Southern Command warned that transferring ships and surveillance aircraft to the Iran theater has reduced their ability to carry out missions connected to the defense of the United States itself.
Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Samuel Paparo also opposed the continued diversion of forces from his theater, including an aircraft carrier strike group and destroyers.
The Navy appears to be facing some of the most severe pressure.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle warned that the service cannot indefinitely sustain its present commitment to the Iran campaign without an end date, while only about one-quarter of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is reportedly currently ready for deployment.
Extended operations are also interfering with ship maintenance and could leave fewer vessels available if another crisis erupts, according to the assessment. The Navy has supplied dozens of ships for the Iran campaign, initially for strikes and defense against Iranian retaliation and later to enforce President Donald Trump’s blockade of Iranian ports and protect maritime traffic around the Strait of Hormuz.
The strains have become increasingly visible among carrier crews.
The USS Gerald R. Ford recently completed a deployment lasting close to a year, while the USS Abraham Lincoln spent roughly eight and a half months without a port visit during its Middle East mission.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is expected to deploy to the region next, with sailors being told to prepare for a deployment exceeding seven months.
Caudle acknowledged this week that the continuing fighting has “certainly stressed the force” and said he normally opposes extending deployments beyond their scheduled duration.
“But the enemy gets a vote,” he said.
The pressure extends beyond the Navy.
The Army’s 82nd Airborne Division sent approximately 2,000 soldiers to the Middle East following the outbreak of the war and is expected to remain there through at least September, with officials reportedly anticipating another possible extension.
Patriot air-defense units protecting US facilities against Iranian missile and drone attacks are also expected to remain deployed longer than originally planned.
Air Force units assigned to sustained combat operations are likewise expected to remain in the region, in some cases into 2027. Army and Air Force leaders did not formally oppose the extensions in the August assessment but warned that keeping forces deployed would carry significant risks.
More than 50,000 US service members were operating across the Middle East as of late July, according to Central Command. US forces conducted repeated waves of attacks against Iranian missile sites, command centers, drone facilities, naval assets and air defenses during July while simultaneously protecting commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz.
The prolonged conflict has also consumed equipment and munitions at a rate that has increasingly raised questions about broader American military readiness. Eighteen US service members have been killed and more than 750 injured since the war began, while a Congressional Research Service assessment cited by Reuters said 42 US military aircraft had been lost.
Supplies of Patriot and THAAD air-defense interceptors and long-range weapons have also come under pressure, according to unconfirmed reports.
The warnings arrive as the war reaches the six-month mark without a political settlement.
Trump initially presented the military operation as a relatively short campaign and at one stage described it as a “little excursion,” but Iran has refused to accept Washington’s terms for ending the conflict.
The administration has increasingly supplemented military pressure with an effort to economically isolate Tehran.
Trump has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports while pushing to restore regular commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy corridors.
“We have control and we have the blockade,” Trump said Thursday. “Iran is not getting anything. Nothing is going through.”
Central Command said in July that US forces had helped approximately 900 commercial vessels carrying roughly 450 million barrels of crude oil transit the Strait since early May.
Iran, however, has continued attacks against shipping and retains missiles and drones capable of striking American forces and regional targets.
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