Pentagon brass sends warning about America’s ability to confront threats

Commanders say Iran war operations risk weakening homeland defense and deterrence in Europe and Asia

Senior U.S. military commanders have warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that prolonging large-scale military operations against Iran is becoming unsustainable and could leave the United States less capable of responding to threats elsewhere, including attacks on the homeland, according to an exclusive report by The Washington Post.

The warnings represent an unusually stark assessment from some of the nation’s highest-ranking military officers after six months of war with Iran.

The concerns were contained in the Aug. 14 edition of the Secretary of Defense Orders Book. This classified Pentagon document assesses the worldwide availability of U.S. troops, warships, aircraft and weapons systems and helps determine how military resources are distributed.

According to The Post, the assessment included input from the leaders of the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as four-star commanders responsible for U.S. military operations across Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Several commanders formally disagreed with continued demands to divert forces to the Middle East, although they indicated they would carry out the orders.

The message from military leaders, one person familiar with the assessment told The Post, was that the Iran operation had been “too much for too long.”

The warnings raise questions about how long President Donald Trump can maintain the enormous U.S. military commitment to the conflict without diminishing the Pentagon’s ability to deter China, defend Europe and protect the United States itself.

More than 50,000 U.S. troops have remained on alert in the region as Trump pressures Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and accept U.S. conditions for ending the conflict.

Trump has continued to hold out the possibility of additional military action. Some American forces are now scheduled to remain in the Middle East through September, while others could stay into 2027.

Commanders warn of risks to homeland defense

The heads of U.S. European Command and U.S. Southern Command warned that transferring ships and surveillance aircraft to U.S. Central Command has impaired their ability to meet homeland-defense responsibilities, according to The Post.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, objected to the continuing level of forces he was ordered to provide for the Iran operation, including an aircraft carrier strike group and destroyers.

Those diversions are particularly significant because U.S. strategy has increasingly focused on deterring China in the Pacific.

The U.S. Navy’s only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier in the Pacific, the Japan-based USS George Washington, was redeployed to the Middle East to relieve the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been deployed for more than 300 days.

U.S. allies in the region have expressed concern that declining American stocks of missiles and air-defense interceptors could leave them more vulnerable to China.

Adm. Daryl Caudle, the chief of naval operations, gave what The Post called the bleakest assessment, warning Hegseth that the Navy couldn’t keep up its current involvement in the Iran conflict indefinitely, especially with no end in sight.

The strain is already visible across the fleet.

Caudle told Hegseth that barely one-quarter of the Navy’s destroyers were ready to deploy, a sharp deterioration from prewar readiness levels, according to people familiar with the assessment.

Continuing Trump’s illegal, unprovoked, and unauthorized Iran war at its current pace could also disrupt ship maintenance and reduce the Navy’s ability to respond if another conflict erupts.

At a recent event in Norfolk, Virginia, Caudle acknowledged the toll of extended deployments.

“I typically am not a big fan of extensions, and I push back hard on that, but the enemy gets a vote,” Caudle said, according to a Navy transcript.

Weapons stocks depleted

The warnings extend beyond personnel and ships.

The Iran war has depleted stocks of some of the Pentagon’s most important weapons, including Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors and long-range Tomahawk missiles.

About one-quarter of the Pentagon’s Reaper drone fleet has been lost during the conflict, while U.S. military bases in the region have suffered billions of dollars in damage, The Post reported. The Trump administration has disputed reports that the military faces munitions shortages.

The Army also faces lengthy deployments. Elements of the 82nd Airborne Division that mobilized about 2,000 soldiers in March are expected to remain deployed for as long as a year.

Those troops would be among the forces expected to play a major role if Trump ordered a ground invasion of Iran.

Air Force units conducting bombing missions and other round-the-clock operations are also expected to remain in the Middle East into 2027.

The classified warnings are especially significant because they indicate that concerns about the war’s sustainability are no longer confined to outside analysts, lawmakers or former military officers.

They are being raised through the Pentagon’s own formal force-allocation process by commanders responsible for preparing the United States for conflicts elsewhere.

One person familiar with the assessment told The Post that discussions of military risk are routine but that the current outlook is “more dire,” with some generals and admirals unusually candid in opposing further commitments of personnel and equipment to a conflict with no clear end.

Pentagon declines to discuss classified assessment

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said decisions about military deployments are based on current threats, presidential priorities and advice from senior commanders.

“Decisions regarding the scope and duration of specific force commitments to any Combatant Command are made based on the current threat assessment, strategic priorities established by the President, and the advice of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Combatant Commanders,” Parnell said in a statement to The Post.

He said the Pentagon does not discuss its internal operational processes or commanders’ classified assessments.

The Aug. 14 assessment is not the first indication that senior military officials questioned whether the United States possessed sufficient resources for an extended conflict with Iran.

Before the war began, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised the White House that the United States lacked sufficient munitions and allied support for a prolonged, large-scale campaign, according to previous reporting cited by The Post.

More recently, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, commander of U.S. European Command, privately warned the Pentagon that he lacked sufficient naval forces to defend Israel and the U.S. homeland against missile attacks.

The latest assessment suggests those concerns have intensified as the war has dragged on.

What began as a major concentration of American military power against Iran is increasingly forcing Pentagon leaders to confront a fundamental strategic problem: Forces committed indefinitely to one theater are forces that cannot simultaneously train, deter adversaries, or respond to crises somewhere else.

What started as a major buildup of American military power aimed at Iran is now pushing Pentagon leaders to face a key strategic challenge: troops tied down in one region can’t also train, deter other threats, or respond to emergencies in different parts of the world.

For the nation’s senior military commanders, according to the classified assessment reported by The Post, that trade-off is no longer theoretical.