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Hegseth claims 'historic and overwhelming victory' after Iran ...
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday claimed “overwhelming victory” over Iran, hours after President Trump announced a 14-day ceasefire.“Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital V military victory by any measure,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing. “Epic fury decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come.”Hegseth also claimed Iran had begged for a deal due to Trump’s threats to bomb the country “back to the Stone Ages.”“You see, had Iran refused our terms, the next targets would have been their power plants, their bridges and oil and energy infrastructure, targets they could not defend and could not realistically rebuild,” he said. “They couldn’t defend against it. President Trump had the power to cripple Iran’s entire economy in minutes.”Hegseth’s comments echo those of Trump’s, who insisted Tuesday that the United States had won a “total and complete victory” against Iran after agreeing to the ceasefire deal with the country.The two sides agreed on the ceasefire just an hour before Trump’s deadline to attack Iranian infrastructure after outreach from Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.“Total and complete victory. 100 percent. No question about it,” Trump told AFP when asked if he was claiming victory with the ceasefire.The Iranian Supreme National Security Council also said it accepted the two-week ceasefire and reportedly will begin negotiations on a long-term peace with the U.S. on Friday in Islamabad, Pakistan. Tehran’s key concession was allowing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.However, the deal does not appear to include Iranian commitments on uranium enrichment or giving up its nuclear material, key aims of Iran hawks. It also leaves the hardline Iranian regime in place. The U.S. has also said it wants Iranian commitments to stop funding proxies across the region.Despite Iran’s lack of nuclear commitments, Hegseth claimed that Tehran had agreed to remove enriched uranium buried underground as part of the temporary truce.“They know this agreement means that they will never, ever assess a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth said of Iran.“Under the terms, any nuclear material they should have will be removed. Their dust is deeply buried and watched 24/7 overhead. The President has been clear from the beginning, there will be no Iranian nuclear weapons. Period. Full stop,” he said.Trump, in a Truth Social post earlier in the morning, also said, “There will be no ...
Hegseth touts US 'victory' over Iran as Tehran hails its own 'historic ...
US defence chief declares total military victory over Iran, matching earlier victory claims from Tehran amid two-week ceasefire.US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has declared a decisive military victory over Iran and said that Tehran’s missile programme has been functionally destroyed.Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to reporters on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump pulled back from the brink of a threatened full-on assault on Iran two hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to open the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.“Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield. A capital V military victory,” Hegseth said, adding that the US-Israeli war on Iran achieved “every single objective”, including the destruction of its navy, air defence system, and missile production capability.The ceasefire deal with Iran means Tehran “will never, ever possess a nuclear weapon”. Iran’s new leadership “begged” for a ceasefire because it was “out of options and out of time”.“We finished completely destroying Iran’s defence-industrial base, a core pillar of our mission,” Hegseth added. “They can no longer build missiles.”Hegseth, however, admitted that Iran is not completely defenceless.“They can still shoot, we know that,” he said. “They can still shoot here and there, but that would be very unwise.”Hegseth said the US military was “hanging around” in the Middle East to ensure Iran complies with the two-week ceasefire and to monitor the country’s enriched uranium stockpile.“On the uranium, we’re watching it. We know what they have, and they will give it up, and we’ll get it. We’ll take it if we have to,” Hegseth told reporters.Iran also declared “victory” after Trump’s ceasefire announcement with the country’s Supreme National Security Council calling on its citizens to remain united until details of its victory in the war are finalised, the IRNA news agency says.“We congratulate all the people of Iran on this victory and emphasise that until the details of this victory are finalised, there is still a need for perseverance and prudence on the part of the authorities,” the council said in a statement, according to IRNA.It added that Iran, together with its “axis of resistance” in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and occupied Palestine, has “dealt blows to the enemy in the past 40 days that the historical memory of the world will never forget”.At the US Defense Department presser, Caine said U...
Hegseth Declares Victory in War on Iran After Ceasefire Deal
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared victory in the US and Israeli war against Iran on Wednesday, a day after Washington and Tehran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.
Iran war live updates: Hegseth declares victory as ceasefire takes hold
President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran contingent on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. See what's next in peace talks.
