US Increasingly Striking From Inside Iran’s Airspace as It Gains Air Dominance: Hegseth

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said about 1 percent of the latest U.S. strikes on Iran are from long-range weapons.

An F-35C Lightning II, attached to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314, is staged for flight operations on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury, on Mar. 3, 2026. U.S. Navy

ARLINGTON, Va.—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on March 13 that U.S. forces have made significant progress gaining control over Iran’s skies, and are now relying almost entirely on relatively cheap gravity bombs to strike targets inside the country.

Hegseth provided the update following concerns U.S. forces could exhaust stocks of long-range weapons to strike Iran. Referred to in military parlance as stand-off weapons, these long-range weapons allow U.S. aircraft to attack Iran from a distance while incurring relatively little risk of being shot down, but are expensive and in shorter supply.