Pete Hegseth:

The Pentagon is no longer run by bureaucrats; instead, it's run by combat-tested veterans and world-class business leaders who are running the department like a business.

General Caine:

The low barrier to entry created by affordable, ubiquitous, unmanned systems means our adversaries, rogue actors, state and non-state actors, and violent extremists have access to disruptive and potentially lethal technologies at scale.

We've seen this in Ukraine and we must adopt elements of this fight for our future fights.

Trump:

I am hereby directing my Administration to allow all U.S. airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land.

Hopefully, other Countries will do the same. Enjoy!

NEW: Ukrainian General Mykhailo Drapatyi is expected to become Ukraine’s new Commander-in-Chief.

Pete Hegseth on Iran:

I acknowledge that they still have capabilities, no doubt, but the amount of damage we have done to them has put them in the worst place they have ever been.

CONFIRMED: Zelensky dismissed Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, appointing Mykhailo Drapatyi as his successor.

Pete Hegseth:

I don't know what Lloyd Austin did for four years. I really don't.

The amount of neglect, the amount of stale thinking and bureaucracy, it was staggering when we took over.

Ukraine’s new Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi led the iconic 2014 Mariupol BMP breakthrough.

He ordered his crew to smash through a separatist barricade in one of the war’s most famous early moments.

General Caine:

I want to highlight that the incredible work that the Ukraine industrial base is doing as they scale their own capabilities.

It ranges from their surface-to-air capabilities to their air-to-air capabilities. I'll note that recently we had the first air-to-air kill where a Ukrainian F-16 shot down a Russian fighter.

So I think their ability to scale their layered defense has come along a long way over the past couple years with the help and assistance of many.

Trump compares wars on Truth Social.

Iran war has cost the U.S. $37.5 billion, Hegseth says.

Pete Hegseth:

President Trump deserves the kind of praise he should get for undertaking this effort and having the courage to make sure that crazy Islamists can’t have a nuclear weapon.

Q: Are Russia and China helping Iran, and if so, how?

Hegseth: There are ways in which both of those countries are, at different levels, enabling some of the things Iran is doing. Yes.

Hegseth ranting at the Senate:

Do you want radical Islamists to have a nuclear bomb that can stare down the world?

Q: Do we have the ability to destroy whatever is underneath Iran's Pickaxe Mountain?

Hegseth: A lot of our capabilities are classified, Senator. But if anybody in the world can reach anything on God’s green Earth, it’s the United States military.

Q: In the war between Russia and Ukraine, who do we want to win?

Caine: I want Ukraine to win.

Q: Is Russia America's friend?

Caine: I think it's a complicated relationship... I don't think they are our friends.

Q: There are reports that we hit desalination plants in Iran. Were these deliberate targets?

Caine: I am not aware of those being particular targets.

NEW: Iran warns that if the U.S. attacks its nuclear or other key facilities, it will treat it as a major escalation and target U.S. interests, allies, and supporters across the region.

Pete Hegseth on Iran:

We are not fighting stupid wars again.

We haven't been trying to remake Iranian society.