Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, broke from his normally stoic self over a question about the existence of Iranian “kamikaze dolphins” at Tuesday’s Pentagon press briefing.
When asked by the Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan about the existence of “kamikaze dolphins,” Caine showed his working knowledge of the Austin Powers movies, joking that it reminded him of “sharks with laser beams.” Dr. Evil, the antagonist in the comedy series, laments that all he wants is “sharks with fricking laser beams attached to their heads” to take out his nemesis.
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“I haven’t heard the kamikaze dolphin thing. It’s like sharks with laser beams, right?” he said with a laugh, before pivoting to another question about the threshold for a breakdown of the U.S. ceasefire with Iran.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth also showed his amusement, jokingly suggesting the U.S. may have its own kamikaze dolphins.
“I can’t confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins, but I can confirm they don’t,” he said. Hegseth did not elaborate on whether the Pentagon has procured sharks with laser beams.
The hysteria around “kamikaze dolphins” originates from a report from the Wall Street Journal last week that said Iranian officials were exploring the use of “mine-carrying dolphins” as a desperate last measure to break the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Hegseth and Caine’s responses suggest the possibility isn’t being taken seriously by Washington.
CEASEFIRE IS ONGOING DESPITE IRAN’S MISSILE ATTACKS: HEGSETH
Concerns over the use of marine mammals for military purposes originated in the Cold War, when intelligence emerged that the Soviet Navy was exploring using trained dolphins for intelligence and reconnaissance. The U.S. Navy has also reportedly explored the use of marine mammals for military purposes, though this is mainly limited to mine detection.
The most high-profile example came in 2019, when a beluga whale was caught off the coast of Norway wearing a GoPro camera harness that read “Equipment St. Petersburg,” leading to speculation that it was a Russian spy. The mammal was named “Hvaldimir,” a pun on the Norwegian word for “whale” and the Russian president’s first name. After living half a decade as a celebrity in Norway, he died under mysterious circumstances in 2024.
