At least 16 US military aircraft have been lost since the start of the war with Iran, including 10 Reaper strike drones hit by enemy fire and a half-dozen other planes badly damaged in attacks or accidents.

At least 16 US military aircraft have been lost since the start of the war with Iran, including 10 Reaper strike drones hit by enemy fire and a half-dozen other planes badly damaged in attacks or accidents.

The Pentagon has asked for an additional $200 billion from Congress to pay for the war against Iran, a person familiar with the matter said, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that the campaign was ahead of schedule and disputed that the US was getting embroiled in a quagmire.

The US Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier is retreating from the Red Sea after a fire broke out in its laundry room, scuttling plans for the 100,000-ton nuclear-powered vessel to project power in the war with Iran.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US has “no shortage” of munitions to carry out its campaign in Iran, seeking to rebut concerns that the US military is burning through interceptors and other missiles at an unsustainable rate.

The US has a massive stock of easy-to-produce, air-dropped precision bombs — as President Donald Trump implied in a social media post this week — but has been using costly and less-numerous standoff weapons in its attacks on Iran, sapping supplies meant for more formidable enemies.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US and Israel are on the cusp of taking complete control of Iran’s airspace as he laid out plans to step up attacks deeper in the country as its defenses are destroyed.

The Pentagon’s top strategy official acknowledged that the US operations against Iran are outside the scope of the Trump administration’s plans to have allies and partners pick up more of the burden for collective security.

The White House held a meeting Friday to discuss recent incidents where a military laser system was used near the Texas border with Mexico without proper coordination between government agencies, according to people familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump put his son-in-law Jared Kushner and longtime friend Steve Witkoff in charge of resolving the war in Ukraine and a standoff with Iran. On Thursday, they juggled those momentous issues within hours of each other.

President Donald Trump claimed that Iran is working to reconstitute its nuclear program even as it negotiates with Washington, adding to speculation that he’s preparing for a fresh round of military strikes in the coming days.

The US military has boarded another sanctioned tanker with links to Venezuela after chasing it into the Indian Ocean, as the Trump administration continues to enforce a maritime blockade against the Latin American nation.

The US military is stationing a vast array of forces in the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers, fighter jets and refueling tankers, with President Donald Trump saying that Iran had 10 to 15 days at most to strike a deal over its nuclear program.

The general in charge of US Southern Command, charged with overseeing the military buildup in the Western Hemisphere and an ongoing campaign of strikes against alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, made a surprise visit to Venezuela on Wednesday.

The US military has spent years working to defeat increasingly numerous and capable drones with directed-energy systems that cost less and offer more rounds than traditional missiles. One of those systems was at the center of the confusing airspace closure in El Paso, Texas last week.

The US said in an advisory that American-flagged ships should stay as far as possible from Iranian waters when navigating the Strait of Hormuz after a vessel was harassed last week, with tensions remaining high between Washington and Tehran.

The US military said on Wednesday it had struck multiple Islamic State targets in Syria over the last week, continuing the American response to a deadly December attack on US and Syrian troops in Palmyra.

President Donald Trump reiterated that the US and Iran are maintaining diplomatic talks, even after an earlier skirmish in the Arabian Sea spooked oil markets amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

The arrival of a US aircraft-carrier strike group in the Middle East has given President Donald Trump new, more forceful options to carry out his threats to attack Iran, but the choices carry serious risks of retaliation from Tehran.

US, Danish and Greenlandic officials met Wednesday to discuss a new framework deal over Greenland, an attempt to satisfy President Donald Trump’s desire to see a greater American presence on the Arctic island that stops short of ceding it to the US.