Amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Monday during a Pentagon briefing said, Washington did not start the war but would “finish it” under President Donald Trump, speaking at a US Department of Defence press conference.
Hegseth said the operation was not intended as a regime-change war, but added that “the regime sure did change”, signalling a hardening US stance amid escalating hostilities.
"Today, in their desperation, the enemy is unmasked as Iranian missiles and drones rain down indiscriminately on the hotels, airports, apartments, and other civilian targets of their neighbours," he added.
"Cowardly terrorist tactics from a regime that for decades has trafficked in cowardly terrorist tactics lies death and destruction to this day. The Iranian leadership has built nothing except proxies, and missiles and drones and deeply buried nuclear factories and facilities," he added.
He further said, "Peaceful nuclear ambitions do not need to be buried underneath mountains. Last June, Operation Midnight Hammer obliterated their nuclear program to rubble. Afterwards, we told them plainly, that's it, now make a deal. They arrogantly refused. We said, rebuild it and we'll stop you again, this time far worse. President Trump, Secretary Rubio... they bent over backwards for real diplomacy, offering pathway after pathway to peace."
"The former regime had every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal. But Tehran was not negotiating. They were stalling. Buying time to reload their missile stockpiles and restart their nuclear ambitions. Their goal, hold us hostage, threatening to strike our forces. President Trump doesn't play those games," he added.
Highlighting the objective of the operation, he said,the US military operation in Iran aims to destroy Iranian missiles, naval capabilities and deny Tehran nuclear weapons. Speaking at the US Department of Defense, he said the campaign was not a regime-change war, but added that the “regime did change,” warning the operation would involve casualties but would not become an endless conflict.
"This is not Iraq. This is not an endless war," he said, without giving a timeline for the conclusion of the operation.
