The US military has begun flying B-52 bombers over Iranian territory for the first time since the war began, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday, suggesting that Iran’s air defences have been significantly degraded.

But despite a monthlong US-Israeli bombing campaign, Tehran still retained the ability to retaliate, defence secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters.

“They will shoot some missiles; we will shoot them down,” Hegseth said at the Pentagon alongside Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs’ chairman. It was their first public briefing on the war in nearly two weeks, when they took questions from reporters on March 11.

General Caine said US warplanes were now focused on destroying supply chains that fed Iran’s missile, drone and naval ship building facilities, choking off the country’s ability to replace munitions destroyed in thousands of American bombing runs.

Hegseth also revealed he had made an unannounced trip to West Asia over the weekend to visit troops at bases around the region. He again said the US was “closer than ever before to winning”. President Donald Trump has offered conflicting messages about his objectives in the war and has struggled to contain its economic fallout.

Asked how long the war would last, Hegseth said the choice to end it was Trump’s alone.

Hegseth said the US was taking steps to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway that Iran has effectively blocked, but he did
not describe what those measures were.

In response to a reporter’s question about Trump’s supporters being uncomfortable with the idea of sending US ground troops into Iran, Hegseth said: “We’re not going to forgo any options.”

Hegseth responded to a question about negotiations that President Trump says are underway with Iran by saying: “We negotiate with bombs.”

Kuwait ship hit

Tehran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded oil tanker off Dubai on Tuesday. Authorities in Dubai said the fire on the Kuwait-flagged Al-Salmi had been brought under control following a drone
attack, with no oil leak and no injuries to the crew. Kuwait Petroleum Corp, the ship’s owner, said the vessel’s hull was damaged.

LSEG Data showed the vessel was heading to Qingdao in China, and was carrying 1.2 million barrels of Saudi crude oil and 800,000 barrels of Kuwaiti crude, according to monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.

The Al-Salmi may not have been the intended target. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRG) said they had targeted a container ship in the Gulf over its ties with Israel. But they appeared to be referring to the Singapore-flagged Haiphong Express, which was anchored next to the Al-Salmi, according to shipping data.

Isfahan strike

US strikes hit a city on Tuesday that is home to one of Iran’s main nuclear sites, sending a massive fireball into the sky. Trump shared footage of the attack on Isfahan. The central city is home to one of three nuclear enrichment sites attacked by the US in a 12-day war in June, and analysts believe much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely stored there. Iran has not confirmed the attack.

Threat to US firms

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps issued a threat on Tuesday against top American corporations, accusing them of helping the US and Israel carry out strikes against Iranians. “From now on the main institutions involved in such operations will be considered legitimate targets,” the Guards said in a statement that named 18 companies, including Apple, Google and Meta. The statement called for employees of these companies “in all countries of the region” to evacuate their workplaces.