US military chiefs warn Hegseth that Iran war is unsustainable and leaves homeland defences exposed

• The Navy's top admiral warned that only around a quarter of all destroyers are fit for deployment right now — a sharp decline from pre-war readiness levels.

Leaders of Pacific, European and Southern Command each filed a formal 'non-concur' against Hegseth's orders — meaning they objected but said they would carry them out anyway.

Over 50,000 US troops remain on standby in the Middle East, with the orders book directing some to stay through 2027, a prospect that triggered the unusually blunt pushback.

The heads of the US Army, Navy and Air Force, together with four-star commanders responsible for Europe, Asia and Latin America, have formally cautioned Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that maintaining large-scale operations against Iran is pushing the military toward its limits. The classified warning, contained in the 14 August Secretary of Defense Orders Book, states that extended Middle East deployments are degrading the ability to protect the American homeland and respond to crises elsewhere. Commanders of European and Southern Command told Hegseth that diverting ships and surveillance aircraft to the Iran theatre has directly compromised their homeland-defence obligations. The Pentagon called the reporting 'fake news.'