Iran begged for truce: Hegseth

Agencies Washington

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has said that Iran will give the United States its enriched uranium or else the US will “take it out”, The Guardian report­ed. He said Iran will “give it to us voluntarily,” or the US might do “something like” its strikes last summer with Israel hitting Iran’s nuclear sites. “We reserve that opportunity,” Hegseth said.

Addressing the media after the United States and Iran agreed on a two week-ceasefire, Hegseth said the “new Iranian regime” had a different interaction with America from the one held earlier.

The Pentagon chief said that he hoped and believed the ceasefire would hold, reinforcing that the Strait of Hormuz was now open and commerce would flow.

Hegseth said Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei was “wounded and disfigured”. Iran’s factories had been “razed to the ground” and the Pentagon had “done its part for now”.

The defence secretary  added that he believed there was now a chance for peace but US troops involved in the conflict remained ready.

Hegseth began the presser by saying Iran “begged for this ceasefire” and said Operation Epic Fury “decimated” Iran’s military. He said the country’s missile programme had been “functionally destroyed” and Iran’s navy “is at the bottom of the sea”. 

“We [the US] own their skies,” he added.

The US carried out 800 strikes on Tuesday night, he said, destroying Iran’s defence industrial base.

Caine: US military objectives achieved

Joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine has said Donald Trump’s military objectives have been achieved and he welcomes the two-week ceasefire.

He said that the American military have struck over 13,000 targets since February 28. More than 90% of Iran’s regular naval fleet has been sunk, “including all major surface combatants” with 150 ships now “at the bottom of the ocean,” Caine told reporters at a briefing.