Pete Hegseth says Donald Trump controls the tempo of the struggle, however acknowledges that Israel has its personal goals.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has declared that the US is “profitable” within the battle in opposition to Iran, however he declined to offer a timeline as to when the struggle would finish, stressing that call lies with President Donald Trump.
Hegseth advised reporters on Tuesday that the US is concentrated on three essential goals: to neutralise Tehran’s missile capabilities, destroy its navy and “completely deny Iran nuclear weapons ceaselessly”.
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“We is not going to relent till the enemy is completely and decisively defeated,” Hegseth mentioned.
“We accomplish that on our timeline and at our selecting. For instance, at present shall be but once more, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran – probably the most fighters, probably the most bombers, probably the most strikes.”
Regardless of Washington’s repeated assertions that Iran is being defeated, Iranian leaders have projected defiance, promising to proceed to battle again.
“These mightier than you haven’t been capable of remove our nation. Those that have tried have turn out to be eradicated themselves,” high official Ali Larijani mentioned in a social media publish on Tuesday.
Iran has persistently denied in search of a nuclear weapon and says its programme is peaceable. Following US strikes on a number of key Iranian nuclear amenities in June 2025, Trump claimed that the US had “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear programme.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli strikes, which have killed the nation’s Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei and greater than 1,250 different folks, with missile and drone assaults in opposition to Israel and throughout all the area.
The Iranian navy has additionally attacked oil amenities in Gulf international locations and largely succeeded in closing the Strait of Hormuz, a serious transport lane for the vitality commerce, sending gasoline costs hovering.
Late on Monday, Trump threatened Iran with “dying, fireplace, and fury” if it doesn’t permit oil shipments to move via the strait.
Larijani, who serves because the secretary of the Supreme Nationwide Safety Council of Iran, hit again on the US president, saying that the Strait of Hormuz “will both be a Strait of peace and prosperity for all or shall be a Strait of defeat and struggling for warmongers”.
High US Normal Dan Caine mentioned that US forces are persevering with to “hunt and strike mine-laying vessels” within the Gulf.
Trump recommended final week that the US Navy might accompany oil vessels via the strait to make sure their security.
However Caine recommended on Tuesday that the choice to make use of the US navy to reopen the waterway has not been taken.
“If tasked to escort, we’ll have a look at the vary of choices to set the navy circumstances to have the ability to do this,” he mentioned.
Final week, Israel struck oil depots in Tehran, sparking fires and big plumes of smoke throughout the town. The transfer has been criticised by some staunch supporters of the struggle.
Hegseth acknowledged that Israel has its personal objectives for the battle.
He mentioned the assault on Iranian vitality infrastructure was not “essentially” a US goal.
“Israel has been a extremely sturdy associate on this effort. The place they’ve totally different goals, they pursued them. Finally, we’ve stayed centered on ours,” the Pentagon chief mentioned.
Though Hegseth spelled out particular goals for the struggle, Trump has been shifting the objectives – starting from “freedom” for Iranians to putting in an Iranian chief from inside the governing system who’s prepared to reply US and Israeli calls for.
Requested how lengthy the struggle would final, Hegseth mentioned: “The president has set a really particular mission to perform, and our job is to unrelentingly ship that. Now, he will get to manage the throttle. He’s the one deciding.”
