More: In the U.S. military, commanders do not typically speak publicly about future operations to avoid tipping off an adversary or jeopardizing the mission's success and, possibly, American lives.
But that has not dissuaded America's commander in chief from proclaiming when and how the United States will next attack Iran.
For the second day in a row, President Trump on Thursday threatened in a social media post that the United States would hit Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT," and may soon take Kharg Island, the heart of Iran's oil economy.
Mr. Trump said the same thing on Wednesday, and hours later American warplanes and Tomahawk missiles struck dozens of Iranian radars, air defenses and other military targets in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere around the country.
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has criticized reporters for asking about future operations, suddenly decided it was OK to forecast U.S. bombing raids.
"So those strikes that will happen tonight will be strong. They will be clear," Mr. Hegseth told reporters traveling with him to the headquarters of U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., which oversees military operations in the Middle East. "If they happen to happen tomorrow night, they will be strong, and they will be clear."
More: "Donald Trump isn't just coming after me because of my mean tweets," Mr. Newsom said in the video. "He's coming after me because I am considering running for president." He added, "To get me, he's coming after my wife."
Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, described the investigation as a fishing expedition in which federal agents had started sifting through "years and years of random documents" and knocking on the doors of family friends and associates of the Newsoms to try to find evidence of an unspecified crime.