President says mission aims to destroy ballistic missile capabilities without ground forces

The president said the mission's objective is to destroy an adversary’s ballistic missile launchers, stockpiles and manufacturing capability and that the goal "can be achieved without ground forces," according to remarks in which he also said he would not rule out other options.

That statement framed current military posture and the operation's aims. The president said, "Right now, we're not postured for ground forces," but added that the commander in chief "always has the options" to undertake operations he decides to carry out and that "he's never gonna rule out anything."

The speaker listed specific targets the mission is focused on — launchers, stockpiles and manufacturing capability — and cited the threat posed by unmanned aerial systems and the adversary's navy, saying those forces present a danger "to global shipping."

The comments present the administration's publicly stated objective and an assertion about how that objective can be achieved (without deploying ground forces). The remarks did not announce a formal change in force posture or a binding decision; they conveyed the current emphasis on striking ballistic-missile-related targets while keeping other options available.

There was no vote or formal action recorded in the transcript; the remarks were a spoken statement of intent and operational emphasis.