Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared Tuesday that the United States is “overwhelmingly” winning the war against Iran, adding that the conflict will end “on our timeline.”
“We are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objective,” Hegseth declared during a press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday, reiterating that those aims were to destroy Iran’s missile stockpiles, their missile launchers and their ability to make them; destroy their navy and “permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons.”
“We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated,” Hegseth declared. “But we do so on our timeline and at our choosing.”
To illustrate US dominance in Iran, Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that ballistic missile attacks from Iran on other Middle Eastern states had dropped 90%, while the number of one-way attack drone strikes from the regime have plummeted 83%.
Additionally, more than 50 Iranian ships have been struck, decimating Tehran’s navy, according to Caine.
“We’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force,” Hegseth boasted.
“Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran. The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever.
“On the other hand, the last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest number of missiles they’ve been capable of firing.”
US forces have prioritized Iran’s ballistic missile stockpiles and are working to degrade the regime’s military industrial capacity, including its drone factories, Caine explained.
One of the immediate objectives is to ensure that normal shipping activity resumes in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil flows each year, both Caine and Hegseth stressed.
Hegseth, an Army veteran, noted that Operation Epic Fury “hits home” for him, given that he lost fellow service members from Iran-funded IED attacks in the Iraq War.
The Pentagon chief once again contrasted the current military campaign against Iran from the drive to overthrow Saddam Hussein and establish democracy in Iraq.
“This is not 2003. This is not endless nation-building under those types of quagmires we saw under Bush or Obama. It’s not even close,” Hegseth stressed. “Our generation of soldiers will not let that happen again.”
“And nor will this president, who very clearly ran against those kinds of never-ending, nebulous-scope missions,” he added. “Those days are dead. Instead, we’re winning decisively with brutal efficiency, total air dominance, and an unbreakable will to accomplish the president’s objectives on our timeline.”
