As the war with Iran passes the six-month mark, the U.S. military leadership has expressed concerns to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the continued maintenance of troops in the Middle East, the Washington Post reported on the 30th local time.

According to the report, which cited sources familiar with the October 14th Secretary of Defense Orders Book (SDOB), the chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as the U.S. commanders for Europe, Asia, and Latin America, advised in the SDOB that prolonging large-scale operations in Iran is unsustainable and could weaken the ability to respond to threats in the U.S. mainland and other regions.

Classified within the U.S. administration, the SDOB is a document outlining the availability of U.S. warships, aircraft, personnel, and weapons systems deployed worldwide, and it includes the opinions of the military's top generals.

The SDOB includes instructions for some of the more than 50,000 troops deployed to the currently simmering war with Iran to remain in place through September, and others through 2027, prompting military leadership to express concern, sources said.

In particular, the commanders of the European, Asian, and Latin American regions "non-concurred" with maintaining troop presences around Iran.

This means they do not agree with the extension of the deployment, but will carry it out nonetheless.

In addition, the Army and Air Force leadership agreed with Secretary Hegseth's policy while emphasizing that significant risks would accompany the implementation by each service branch.

One source said that with the war with Iran exceeding six months, the general mood among the military leadership has reached the consensus that "it has been going on for too long and is overextended."

Concerns were also severe regarding the massive relocation of not only troops but also offensive and defensive U.S. military assets to the Middle East since the war with Iran began.

Specifically, the European and Southern commanders warned that their ability to carry out homeland defense obligations has been diminished due to lending ships and surveillance aircraft to the Central Command, which oversees military operations against Iran.

In addition, Indo-Pacific Commander Samuel Paparo did not agree with the sustained scale of support for carrier strike groups and Navy destroyers, sources reported.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle reportedly presented the bleakest assessment to Secretary Hegseth, stating that the current level of support cannot be sustained when an end point to the war is not in sight.

Caudle reported to Secretary Hegseth that only a quarter of the Navy's destroyer fleet is ready for deployment, a sharp decline from pre-war levels.

The Washington Post noted, "While President Trump seeks to end the war favorably for the U.S., Iran is holding out and refusing to surrender, knowing that the majority of Americans dislike the war and that the damage to U.S. military power is growing," adding, "The warnings sent by the U.S. military to Secretary Hegseth provide new insight into the dilemma facing the Trump administration."

(Photo: Capture of U.S. Central Command X, Yonhap News)