Senior U.S. military commanders have warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that sustained, large-scale military operations against Iran risk severely eroding American combat capabilities and compromising the Pentagon’s ability to counter threats in other critical theaters, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.
2+The strategic warnings were detailed in a classified mid-August Department of Defense assessment reviewing the global posture of U.S. ground forces, naval assets, aircraft, and advanced weapons stockpiles.
The evaluations were presented by service chiefs across the Army, Navy, and Air Force, alongside four-star combatant commanders overseeing operations in Europe (EUCOM), the Indo-Pacific (INDOPACOM), and Latin America (SOUTHCOM).According to the report, commanders explicitly warned that continuously siphoning naval vessels, strike aircraft, and ground personnel to the Middle East has already degraded active mission readiness and vital training cycles in other regions. Leaders in European and Southern commands further cautioned that the ongoing redeployments are impairing their baseline capacity to fulfill missions directly tied to homeland defense.
2+Since hostilities with Iran escalated, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has maintained over 50,000 troops on high alert across the region amid the possibility that President Donald Trump could order additional strikes. Key deployment elements are expected to remain stationed in the Middle East at least through late September, with certain specialized units projected to operate in theater into 2027. Regional commanders and senior naval brass have voiced strong internal opposition to extending overseas deployments for the Iran campaign, though they remain prepared to execute executive orders.
2+Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Daryl Caudle, reportedly delivered the starkest warning, cautioning that the Navy cannot indefinitely sustain its current operational tempo in support of the campaign—especially in the absence of a defined exit strategy or end date.
Caudle noted that only about a quarter of the Navy’s guided-missile destroyers are currently in a material condition permitting active operational deployment. A defense official familiar with the strategic review described the prevailing sentiment among the joint military leadership as “too much, for too long,” following nearly six months of intense operations against Iranian targets.The Pentagon declined to comment on the specific details of the classified memorandum, stating that decisions regarding force posture, deployment scale, and operational duration are continually calibrated based on threat assessments, presidential priorities, and guidance from senior military leadership.