Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has boasted of the “incredible” results of the joint U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign on Iran as the conflict entered its fifth day.
“We are only four days into this, and the results have been incredible, historic really…only the United States of America could lead this,” Hegseth said Tuesday at a Pentagon briefing.
“America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” Hegseth said. “They are toast, and they know it,” he said of Iran as he struck a defiant tone.
The sweeping military action has so far killed six U.S. service members, including Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, who was killed in an Iranian drone strike at a command center in Kuwait just days away from returning home to her family.
Others killed in the conflict were Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa, who was posthumously promoted from specialist, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Dan Caine confirmed at the briefing.
The death toll in Iran has reached at least 1,045 people, an Iranian government agency said Wednesday.
Hegseth’s latest remarks follow days of disjointed messaging from the Trump administration as officials have offered conflicting rationales for launching airstrikes on Iran.
At a press conference on Monday, Hegseth insisted the strikes would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and harming more Americans and blasted the media and “political leftists.”
Hegseth insisted Monday that the goal of the operation was to eliminate Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. He also acknowledged the strikes led to the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The defense chief declared, “This is not a regime change war, but the regime sure did change.”
But President Donald Trump struck a different tone Tuesday when he admitted the “worst case” scenario is “we do this and then somebody takes over who is as bad as the previous person.”
He added that “five years” from now, the U.S. could look back and realize that the action was a mistake. “That could happen. We don’t want that to happen.”
This is a breaking story
Source: independent.co.uk