No timeframe for ending US war against Iran, says Pete Hegseth | Pete Hegseth
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday there was no “timeframe” for ending the US war against Iran and did not deny reports that the Pentagon could seek an extra $200 billion in taxpayer funding.
The US-Israeli military offensive began three weeks ago and continues to expand. Donald Trump threatened to “massively blow up” the world’s largest gas field on Wednesday after Israeli strikes on Iranian territory prompted Tehran to step up attacks on oil and gas facilities around the Persian Gulf.
To talk Reporters at the PentagonHegseth suggested Thursday would lead to the largest US attack ever. “To date, we have hit more than 7,000 targets in Iran and its military infrastructure,” the defense minister said. “Today will be the largest attack package yet…death and destruction from above.”
As oil prices rose and the US president’s approval rating fell further, Hegseth refused to offer an exit plan. “We wouldn’t want to set a definitive time frame,” he said, adding that “we’re largely on the right track” and that Trump will be the one to decide when to stop.
“Ultimately it will depend on the choice of the president to say, ‘Hey, we accomplished what we needed to.’
The scale of the campaign has grown significantly. In the Gulf, US aircraft and naval units targeted dozens of ships, including minelayers and submarines, as part of an effort to reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, which was effectively closed by Tehran in the early days of the war.
Hegseth brushed aside suggestions that so-called mission creep was a media invention. He said the goals of the campaign were to eliminate Iran’s ability to launch missiles, cripple its defense industrial base and naval fleet, and ensure it could never obtain a nuclear weapon.
“Our goals, given directly by America’s first president, remain the same as they were on the first day. These are not the media’s goals, not Iran’s goals, not new goals. Our goals have not changed, in their goal and plan.”
In a new development in the media, Hegseth said: “A dishonest and anti-Trump press will stop at nothing – we know this at this point – to belittle progress, increase every cost, and question every step. Unfortunately, TDS [Trump Derangement Syndrome] It’s in their DNA. They want President Trump to fail.”
But he also addressed a media report It was stated that the Pentagon requested more than $200 billion in additional funds from Congress to pay for the conflict. The cost of the first six days is estimated to be close to $13 billion, the Guardian reported on Thursday.
“I think that figure could be as high as $200 billion. Frankly, it takes money to kill the bad guys,” Hegseth said. “We’ll go back to Congress and the people there to make sure we’re appropriately funded for what’s been done and what we might have to do in the future.”
Best US officer General Dan CaineSpeaking alongside Hegseth, he said the army was “on the right track” and was moving deeper into Iranian territory. He said long-range strikes were now moving further east, targeting underground storage facilities, drone garrisons and coastal missile sites with bunker-busting munitions.
Caine outlined the expanding geographical scope of the conflict. In the Gulf, A-10 “Warthog” planes are used to hunt fast attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz, while in Iraq, AH-64 Apache helicopters hit Iranian militia groups. Allied forces began deploying similar systems against Tehran’s one-way attack aircraft.
Hegseth, who had previously expressed sympathy for Christian nationalism, concluded with an explicitly religious call for Americans to pray for U.S. soldiers “on their knees, with your families, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.”
