Pete Hegseth says US' plan is to destroy Iran's military

Pete Hegseth

• US aims to destroy Iran's military, says Secretary Pete Hegseth
• Iran's missile and drone attacks down over 90% since US offensive
• US and Israel have struck over 15,000 targets in Iran

Did our AI summary help?

The United States, perhaps for the first time since the start of its offensive against Iran on February 28, has clearly articulated its objective behind the attack. Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of War on Friday said the United States plans to destroy Iran's military.

Addressing the Press, Hegseth, detailing how Iran's attack capabilities have been significantly reduced since the start of the war, said Iran’s missile firing is down 90 percent and Tehran’s frequency of one-way attack drones is down 95 percent since the conflict kicked off.

United States and Israeli militaries have hit more than 15,000 targets inside Iran since the war broke out. “That’s well over 1,000 a day. No other combination of countries in the world can do that,” Hegseth said during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

Providing an update into the school bombing that killed more than 160 people in Iran, Hegseth said the military’s investigation into a school bombing that killed more than 160 people, mostly students, remains ongoing.

“We don’t, we’re not gonna let reporting lead us or force our hand into indicating what happened in a particular situation, because the truth matters. So I can report the CENTCOM has designated an investigating officer to complete a command investigation. Command investigation will take as long as necessary to address all the matters surrounding this incident.”

Additionally, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine said the U.S. was prioritizing efforts to counter Iranian mining in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed to global oil traffic amid the war.

“Although there is some traffic moving through there, we’ve made it a priority to target Iran’s mine-laying enterprise, their mine-layers, the naval bases and depots, in addition to the missiles that could influence the Strait, and Centcom continues to attack those efforts,” he said.

The U.S. has yet to send naval escorts to help commercial ships move through the Strait, with officials suggesting the risk remains too high