 Good afternoon everyone, thanks for the flexibility today, a little bit later, just a few things and then we'll get right to your questions. First of all, as you saw over the weekend at the direction of the President and in support of Israel's defense, U.S. forces in the Middle East intercepted dozens of missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles after Iran and its proxies launched more than 300 air threats on the evening of April 13 and the morning of April 14. From Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen en route to Israel to include over 110 medium range ballistic missiles over 30 land attack cruise missiles and over 150 UAVs. U.S. Central Command highlighted in their press release that CENCOM forces, supported by the U.S. Navy destroyer's USS Arleigh Burke and USS Carnegie currently assigned to the European Command AOR, successfully engaged and destroyed more than 80 one-way attack UAVs and at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen. This included a ballistic missile on its launcher, vehicle and seven UAVs destroyed on the ground in Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen prior to their launch. Secretary Austin is grateful for the professionalism and skill of the brave U.S. troops who took part in the defense of Israel and who continue to stand guard to prevent further conflict or escalation. Throughout the weekend and into today, Secretary Austin has held multiple calls with international partners and allies, as well as with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, senior DoD leaders and the CENCOM and UCOM commanders to actively monitor the situation and reinforce U.S. and international resolve in the face of Iranian aggression. Secretary Austin has also been in frequent contact with his Israeli counterpart, Minister Golan, speaking to him three times over the weekend. In their most recent call yesterday, the two leaders reviewed the successful combined operation by the United States Israel and their partners to defend Israel from these unprecedented attacks by Iran and its proxies, and emphasized that while the United States does not seek escalation, we will continue to take all necessary action to defend Israel and U.S. personnel. Shifting gears, Secretary Austin welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sadani to the Pentagon today to discuss the strategic nature of the U.S.-Iraqi bilateral defense relationship and Iraq's role as a leader in ensuring regional security. Upon conclusion of the meeting, which is occurring as we speak, we'll issue a full readout. Finally, of note, Secretary Austin also spoke today with his counterparts from Germany, Kuwait, and Qatar. Readouts from these calls will be published later today on Defense.gov. With that, be glad to take your questions. We'll go first to Associated Press, who, it believes, on the phone, Lita Baldover. Thanks, Pat. I was wondering if you were able, at this point, to provide any more details on the U.S. response, including, do you have the number of U.S. aircraft-involved tankers and things like that, any more granularity on U.S. response? And I know it's early, but is there sort of an estimated cost of the U.S. response? And then I have one just on the meeting with Iraq today. Did the Secretary discuss the ongoing issue of the U.S. reducing its troop presence in Iraq and does what just happened in Israel and the fact that some U.S. forces in Iraq were involved in the response, was that discussed as far as the need to maintain any U.S. forces in Iraq? Yeah, thanks, Lita. Taking your last question first, as mentioned, the meeting is ongoing right now. So, of course, we'll have a readout of that meeting. As you know, there is ongoing discussion through the Higher Military Commission as it relates to the U.S. support for Iraq as it relates to the International Coalition to Defeat ISIS and what that relationship, what that longer term bilateral relationship will look like. So, certainly not going to get ahead of that process, but we'll have much more to read out following today's meeting. As it relates to U.S. forces and the response over the weekend, you know, as you know, as a matter of operation security, we're not going to be able to go into the specifics in terms of the numbers of fighters involved at this time, other than to say, again, U.S. fighters were involved in the response and participated in taking down, as I highlighted, over 80 UAVs that were one-way attack UAVs that were en route to Israel. Thank you. Jennifer. General Ryder, were you given a heads up about the scope and scale of this attack? So, I think what you're asking was, did Iran give us a heads up? No, they did not. But were you given a heads up through allies? We were not given specifics by Iran and to my knowledge, any specifics in terms of exact times, dates, you know, we obviously have a robust intelligence network that provides indications and warning, but to answer your specific question, no, Iran did not tell us when and where they were going to attack. And just in terms of the, is the U.S. concerned that U.S. forces in the region would be in jeopardy if Israel retaliates for Saturday night? And is that why the U.S. is not participating in a potential retaliation? Well, look, I don't want to get into hypotheticals at this point, whether or not Israel responds to Iran's attack, of course, is something for Israel to discuss and to decide. As Secretary Austin has said, both publicly and privately, we don't want to see escalation, but we obviously will take necessary measures to protect our forces in the region. And as was demonstrated over the weekend, we'll take necessary measures to defend Israel. Thank you. I think officials had said last week that additional U.S. assets and military assets have been sent to the region. Are those assets still in place or have they been moved out now? As of right now, those assets are still in place. You've talked previously about Iran not seeking conflict in the United States. Is that so accurate? Do you today believe that Iran is not seeking conflict with the United States or Israel? Are you asking me if Iran is speaking? I'm not going to speak for Iran. I mean, certainly from the United States, we do not seek conflict with Iran. Conflict before, so today, is that a statement so accurate? Yeah, again, I'm not going to speak for Iran. Thanks, Will. Two questions on the Middle East. Has Israel informed the Pentagon if it plans to respond to the Iranian attack and does DOD have any message on a potential response in terms of to Israel? Second, given the number of drones and missiles that were shot down, is the Pentagon concerned about stocks of either U.S. or Israeli air defense munitions in the region? Yeah, thanks, Will. So on your first question, again, I'm not going to speak for Israel or any potential response. Again, that's a decision for them to make. As we demonstrated this weekend, we remain focused on the defense of Israel and on the protection of U.S. forces that are in the region. And we've been clear from the very beginning that we don't want to see a wider regional war and we continue to work hard in consulting with our partners and our allies throughout the region to ensure that there is not a larger regional war. And then on your on your other question, again, I'm not going to get into the specifics in terms of U.S. and partner readiness levels. Again, as we demonstrate this weekend, we have the capability and the capacity to defend Israel and to defend our forces in the region, Buddy. Thank you, General. I had two questions. How critical was U.S. support to defend Israel against this response by Iran? Well, I think as our actions demonstrated, the U.S. support for the defense of Israel is robust. And it also demonstrates the longstanding security cooperation relationship that the United States has not only with Israel, but with countries throughout the region when it comes to addressing regional threats. And those kinds of things don't happen overnight. Those kinds of relationships and the ability to work together, to interoperate together, all played out and saved many lives. And the second question, this is not hypothetical. Chief of the General Staff of Israel, General Halivi, made it clear today that Israel will respond. The Secretary made it clear the U.S. is not seeking escalation. The President made that clear as well. When Israel responds, do you think this will be counterproductive to your efforts for the escalation and will the U.S. support an Israeli response? Yeah, thanks, Buddy. Just to take slight exception with your question, because to my knowledge right now, there has been no Israeli response, so that is a hypothetical. So, again, we're going to continue to stay in close consultation with our Israeli partners as we have done throughout the weekend. Again, we don't seek a wider regional conflict, and I'll just leave it there. Lara? So Saturday night was the biggest aerial attack this magnitude we've seen in quite some time. It's the first big test of this collective integrated air and missile defense system that we've been working on with its allies in the region. Can you talk about any lessons that we learned from this attack about Iran's capabilities, about our own capabilities, and were there any surprises? Yeah, thanks, Lara. Now, to your point, we will learn a lot from this, and we have learned a lot from this. As I'm sure you can appreciate, I'm not gonna be in a position to do an after-action report from the podium today other than to say it's pretty telling that Iran launched over 300 air threats, as I highlighted, and 99% of those were knocked down. So it is demonstrative of that close coordination and synchronization between the United States and coalition partners when it comes to addressing air defense threats in the region. So again, we'll obviously continue to look at this and study this. Importantly, we'll continue to work closely with Israel when it comes to the defense of Israel and threats from countries like Iran going forward, but I'm sure we'll have much more to learn. Yes, sir? Yes, for the Italian television. Is the Pentagon talking to other states in the region like the Saudi, Qatar, and the Jordan in case Israel will go for retaliation and they will need military support from those countries, including the U.S.? Are the U.S. ready to use force? Well, yeah, again, as I mentioned, our focus right now remains on the defense of Israel and on the protection of U.S. forces if you take a step back and you look at U.S. force presence in the region at large, we have been focused for a very long time on regional security and stability and that's not gonna change. When it comes to discussions that we have with our partners in the region, of course, those are opportunities, again, to reassure U.S. commitment towards working towards regional security and stability and our appreciation for the ongoing open communication and the ability to consult with leaders throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Use force in case Israel will need military support. Again, I'm not gonna get into hypotheticals. What you saw happen over the weekend was an incredible and extraordinary response by the U.S. and Israel and coalition partners when it came to defending Israel. And I think we've been pretty clear that we don't want to see escalation into a wider regional war and I'll just leave it there. Janie? Thank you, General. Russia in North Korea, Russia said it would increase the deployment of strategic assets around the Korean peninsula to keep the U.S. in check and the increasing military cooperation with North Korea. What is the U.S. position on that? Well, you know, look, we've been working closely for a very long time with our ROK and Japanese allies and other allies and partners throughout the region when it comes to addressing issues like security, stability, prosperity, and to ensure free and open Indo-Pacific. And so that will continue to be our focus. North Korea also, they're considering participating in the China-Russia military exercise soon. How would you concern about this? Again, I'm not going to speak for North Korea today. Let me go back over here. Ms. Pat, there have been reports that are saying that half of the ballistic missiles that were fired by Iran either failed to launch or hit short of the targets. Can you confirm that and then to follow up on that, did some of them land in allied territories like Jordan and Iraq? Yeah, thanks, Carl. I don't have any information to provide on that from the podium. I'm certainly not going to get into intelligence from the podium. I would say in terms of failures, I would just point to the fact that, again, over 300 air threats launched to targets in Israel, 99 percent of which were taken down. And then a follow-up on Adresa's question, if I may. So is there going to be a deployment of additional forces into the region? Does the US feel that they have the appropriate force posture in the Middle East right now? I don't have anything to read out or announce today in terms of force posture. Of course, as a matter, of course, we're constantly looking at US forces around the world and where we need capabilities and assets, but don't have anything to announce today. Joseph. Thanks. Can you talk about who from the Middle East helped in these operations, these counter-Iranian operations over the weekend? And then can you talk about, did the US provide any assurances that if they were to take part in these, then the US would help defend any potential responses from Iran? Because we saw Iran did threaten some of these countries that reportedly took part. Yeah, thanks, Joseph. I appreciate the question. As you know, we're going to allow any partners to speak for themselves, so I don't want to speak for them when it comes to any participation. I'll just leave it there. Sorry, just to push on that. I mean, you guys have said the French and the British helped in these, so you can't talk about any other countries that helped? I think the French and the British have publicly acknowledged their participation, but again, I'd refer you to them to talk about their specific operations. Let me go back here and then tease her once again. Yes, ma'am. Thanks, General. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kuleba seems to suggest that if Ukraine receives seven more patriot batteries, they might be willing to stop attacking Russian oil refineries, which has been criticized by US officials. Is that something that's being taken into consideration by DOD and the administration? Or is it subject of discussions with allies? I don't have anything to announce as it relates specifically to Ukrainian aid other than two things. One, we need Congress to pass the supplemental. And two, we're going to continue to consult closely with Ukraine and our allies and partners when it comes to their most immediate needs to defend themselves from Russian aggression. Yes, sir. Thank you, General. The Iraqi prime minister is here at the Pentagon today. Can you tell us what they discuss about the presence US troops in Iraq and how important to you are relations between the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga forces? And I have a following question. Sure. As mentioned earlier, the meeting is ongoing right now. So we'll have a readout following that meeting, which will provide some additional insight into the discussions. As it relates to our views on the value of Iraqi security forces to the US-Iraqi relationship, we've been working very closely together for many years now. And we value Iraq as a partner. And we greatly appreciate the work and support that we've done with the Iraqi security forces to include Peshmerga forces. Louis, up there. As you said, General, missiles from Iraq were fired at Israel. Can you tell us from where in Iraq and which group was responsible? I can't. I don't have any information to provide in terms of point of origin. Other than one of those missiles was a ballistic missile that was taken down in the vicinity of Erbil that was en route toward Israel. And that's all the information I have to provide. Louis. Sir, yesterday the White House put out that President Biden had made a congratulatory call to two Air Force units. Were those two units involved in the shootdown of these drones that you talked about earlier? Yes. Were those units forward deployed in response? I mean, was this part of the movement of assets that we heard about last week than the possibility of an Iranian military attack? We had deployed some additional fighter units into the region. But I'd have to refer you to Sankam whether or not those units were already in the AOR or whether they were additional units that had been deployed in support of bolstering our efforts there. Thank you. Yes, sir. As far as these wars are concerned, finances are affected of the millions of people around the globe. And now many, many finance ministers are in town for the World Bank and I have a meeting. My question is that as far as this war is concerned, are we heading to a bigger war and maybe involving many other nations? And also, where do the United Nations and the NATO as far as these conflicts are concerned? Yeah, for NATO in the UN, as I'm sure you can appreciate, I'd refer you to them. I'm not going to speak for them. And look, from a US Department of Defense standpoint, one of the things we come to work every day working hard to do is to prevent broader regional or global conflict as evidenced by our efforts in the Middle East region. And we're going to continue to stay very focused on that. Let me go to the phone here, Chris Gordon. Thanks, Pat. Was the location of the US aircraft, and I'm not asking you to say where the aircraft were, coordinated with allies, and I'm not asking you to name which allies in terms of where to operate to be best prepared to defend against this attack? And roughly how long did this engagement go on with US assets defending Israel? Yeah, thanks, Chris. In terms of the duration, I think, as you probably saw, most real time in social media, we were looking over probably several hours here that this occurred, as I mentioned to my topper, the evening of 13 April into the morning of 14 April. As it relates to the positioning of US forces in the region, as you highlighted in your question, I'm not going to go into the specifics in terms of where those forces are based. But just as a matter of course, not only in central command, but in any command, one of the things that we're constantly looking at is force posture, force presence to be able to address the most likely threats, to be able to be prepared to respond to a range of contingencies, and this was no different in this case. And so obviously a lot of planning and coordination that goes into ensuring that we're ready to respond, and I think the results speak for themselves as what you saw this weekend, Jennifer. A senior defense official had said that 50% of Iran's missiles failed en route. Was there sabotage involved in that, or are they just very bad missiles? Again, I've seen those reports. I don't have anything to provide from the podium. Again, other than the fact that I think it's notable that 99% of the aerial threats that Iran launched toward Israel were taken down. I have a China Russia question, if I may. The AP is reporting that about 90% of Russia's microelectronics are coming from China last year, which Russia has used to make missiles and tanks, et cetera, et cetera, used in the war against Ukraine. Can you confirm that? What more can you tell us on that? I can. As you've probably seen, we have indications that the PRC is supporting Russia's war effort by helping to ramp up its defense production with significant quantities of machine tools, microelectronics, optics, UAV, cruise missile technology, which Russia is using to make propellants for weapons. And so this support is actively enabling Russia's war in Ukraine and poses a significant threat to security, international security. So just leave it there. 90% number, 90% of their microelectronics. Can you confirm that as well last year? I don't have that. Are you raised by Secretary Austin in his call tomorrow? I don't have anything to announce at this point or read out any other questions. Let me take one more from Fatih, whose side? Yeah, I mean, I asked you a question that you said. I mean, Admiral Haga said this today from the Israeli air base in Nagyaf that there will be a response. General Halivi said that very clearly. So your response to my question was that because you haven't been notified? No, I apologize, but what you said was if they respond, will the US do something? They've said that they intend to respond. But to my knowledge, there has been no response. So I'm not going to talk about a hypothetical about what they may or may not do if something has not been done. So if you acknowledge that they said that, do you think these statements contribute to what this administration is trying to do in terms of the escalation in the Middle East? Again, we are in regular contact with our Israeli partners to include over the weekend, as you saw, US and Israeli forces bat down this unprecedented Iranian strike. Certainly when it comes to any type of Israeli response, and again, I'm not going to speak for the Israelis, that is a decision for them to make in terms of what they do, if they do it, and how they do it. But again, from a US standpoint, we continue to make very clear that we don't seek a wider regional war, and we'll continue to work towards that result. Let me, yes, sir. Thank you. Ukraine is saying they're running low on air defense interceptors. What is your current assessment? How long will it take till they run out and what will be the impact when they run out? Well, certainly, you heard General Cavoli's testimony recently talking about the situation in Ukraine, so I'd point you to those remarks. Look, it's a dire situation right now in Ukraine. You've got Russian forces that are making some gains on the front line, and it's absolutely essential that we get Ukraine what they need to include air defense capabilities so that they can check Russian aggression, defend their territory, and ultimately take back their sovereign territory. So we're gonna continue to work very hard towards that end. But the most important thing that could happen right now is that Congress passed the supplemental so that we can ensure Ukraine gets the volume and level of support that they need to sustain that fight. Sorry, are we talking weeks or months till the air defense interceptors run out? Like, I'm not gonna get into the specific timeline other than it's just urgent that we get them that capability. Yeah, can you confirm these reports that Secretary Austin has specifically asked his Israeli counterpart to give him a heads up in the event Israel does decide to launch an attack against Iran? Yeah, as I highlighted in the top of my remarks, Secretary Austin did have the opportunity to discuss the successful combined operation by the U.S. Israel and our coalition partners to defend Israel from these unprecedented attacks by Iran and its proxies. You know, when it comes to the operations themselves, he praised the extraordinary defensive measures and strong cooperation that was undertaken to defeat these threats. But beyond that, Mike, I'm gonna have to refer you to my readouts. Thank you, Tony. Speaking of strong cooperation, can you talk a little bit about what impact the Juniper Oak exercise last year, you actually announced from the podium the largest ever U.S. Israeli exercise on air defense and command and control. What impact did that have a year later in terms of the operation over the weekend? Yeah, so a couple of things, Tony. So I alluded earlier to the importance of understanding how our ongoing efforts over many years to strengthen interoperability and coordination, you see the fruition of that over the weekend. But to your point, Juniper Oak, and for those that aren't tracking, it's a combined joint all-domain exercise that really works to improve our ability to work with Israel on land, air, sea space, and cyberspace. And so it was notable that the exercise series included U.S. and Israeli command and control and air interdiction, both of which were critical on defending Israel Saturday night. And just again, as a reminder, this exercise took place in January of 2023. It included 6,400 personnel, 1,100 IDF personnel, 100 U.S. aircraft, six ships, live fire exercise, 180,000 pounds of live munitions, just to give you a sense of the scale. And it's this kind of strategic cooperation and combined training that allows us to do what we did together on Saturday night. Joseph. Can you talk about the drones, at least the ones that the U.S. took down, if they were on armor, if they had any type of munitions attached to them? My understanding is these were one-way attack drones. So, explosive drones. And then, second, does DOD assess that Iran has more sophisticated weapons that it could deploy in the event of any other attack on Israel or somewhere? You know, Iran has demonstrated the capability to launch significant threats in terms of their UAVs, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles. But I'm not going to be able to go into further details. Let me go to Heather, U.S. and I. Hi, thank you so much. To go back to the attack on Saturday night, a senior military official said that aircraft came from land and sea. I just want to see if you can confirm the sea aspect of that. That is correct. You know, there were both land-based and sea-based aircraft, U.S. aircraft, involved. And last question. If I can do a follow-up question to my previous one. There were some words at the State Department, not officials, obviously about a potential coordination of the U.S. in case of retaliation towards Iran from the Israel. So my question is, are the U.S. again ready to coordinate as they did on Saturday a support to the Israeli in case they need it? Yeah, so again, you know, kind of just taking a step back here. And just as a matter of course, the U.S., to include the Department of Defense, we maintain a very robust set of relationships throughout the region and throughout the world. And we're going to continue to stay in close consultation with our allies and partners when it comes to threats in the Middle East region and beyond, to again, focus on regional security and stability. You've seen that play out over the weekend, and that will continue to be the case going forward. Thanks very much, everybody. Appreciate it.