U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks throughout a information convention on the Pentagon on June 22, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
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Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth mentioned Sunday that “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated,” hours after the USA attacked three main nuclear nuclear enrichment amenities.
Hegseth, who praised President Donald Trump’s order as “targeted, it was highly effective, and it was clear,” mentioned that the late-night mission was “not and has not been about regime change” in Iran.
“The president licensed a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our nationwide curiosity posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defense of our troops and our ally Israel,” he mentioned throughout an early morning press convention.
Hegseth was echoing remarks made by Trump late Saturday following the assaults, when he hailed the “destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability.”
However the full extent of the harm to Iran’s nuclear capabilities was not instantly clear.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Air Drive Gen. Dan Caine discusses the mission particulars of a strike on Iran throughout a information convention on the Pentagon on June 22, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
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The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, Gen. Dan Caine, mentioned Sunday that there was “extreme harm and destruction” to the amenities at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, however didn’t go as far as to say that Iran’s nuclear capacities had been “obliterated.”
“Remaining battle harm will take a while, however preliminary battle harm assessments point out that every one three websites sustained extraordinarily extreme harm and destruction,” Caine mentioned.
Iran’s Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi mentioned Sunday that Tehran has all choices to defend its sovereignty and folks after the “outrageous” U.S. assaults.
Caine, talking from the rostrum on the Pentagon, outlined a timeline of the strikes on Iran, an operation that has been known as “Operation Midnight Hammer” by the Trump administration.
He mentioned that some B-2 bombers that had been launched from the U.S. in a single day Friday had been a decoy, whereas the others “proceeded quietly to the east with minimal communications all through the 18-hour flight.”
Greater than 125 aircrafts participated within the operation, together with the stealth B2 bombers.
That is breaking information and will probably be up to date.
