Pete Hegseth vows Iran will surrender and Trump will set the terms with US forces ready ‘to go as far as needed’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran will have no choice but to surrender as the joint US-Israeli operation in the country extends into a second week.

Hegseth made the claim while being interviewed by Major Garrett on Sunday night’s ’60 Minutes’ show, when asked what President Donald Trump meant when he said the US was demanding ‘unconditional surrender’ from Iran.

‘This means we fight to win. This means we set the terms. We will understand that they are unable to fight. There will come a point where they will have no choice but to do it. Whether they know it or not, they will be ineffective in battle. “They will surrender,” he replied.

The Secretary of Defense later said that Trump would determine the terms of Iran’s defeat.

“Whether they want to admit it or not, whether their pride allows them to say it out loud or not — it is President Trump who will set the terms of this,” Hegseth said.

Embers He told the Times of Israel Sunday The decision to end the war once and for all will be made ‘mutually’ between him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

‘I think it’s mutual… kind of. President, we are talking,” he said. ‘I will make a decision at the right time, but everything will be taken into account.’

Still, Hegseth promised in the ’60 Minutes’ interview that the US military is ‘willing to go as far as we need to be successful’ in the operation to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Hegseth says President Donald Trump will ultimately determine the terms of Iran’s defeat

When asked later about the option of sending the boots to the ground, Hegseth said: ‘We reserve the right; We would be completely unreasonable if we did not reserve the right to choose a particular option, whether it involved boots on the ground or no boots on the ground.’

In both cases, Hegseth said: ‘The President was right to say there would be casualties.’

‘Things like this don’t happen without losses,’ he argued. ‘There will be more casualties… our generation especially knows what it’s like to have Americans coming home with coffins.

‘But that doesn’t weaken us one bit. It hardens our spine and our resolve to say that this is a fight we will finish.’

Hegseth gave the interview Friday, just one day before he and Trump were to attend the first dignified transfer ceremony for those killed in the Iran war.

They traveled to Dover Air Force Base, where the remains of six US soldiers killed in Kuwait were returned to their families.

Those killed include Nicole Amor, 39, Cody Khork, 35, Declan Coady, 20, Robert Marzan, 54, Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, and Noah Tietjens, 42, who died in the shooting.

A seventh unidentified US soldier also died After being ‘seriously injured’ during Iranian attack on US troops Saudi Arabia March 1, U.S. Central Command said Sunday afternoon.

Iran’s capital, Tehran, went up in flames on Sunday as Israel and the United States launched a new wave of devastating attacks.

While huge fireballs were seen exploding in the city’s skyline, residents of the area complained about the burning smell in the air.

Iran has been hitting Gulf countries since the start of the US-Israeli operation last week; Sirens are blaring in Israel throughout the night, and the United Arab Emirates says it shot down Iranian drones.

Air defense systems in Iraq shot down a drone that approached a US-run military compound at Baghdad International Airport early Monday.

In Saudi Arabia, US officials and their family members were pressured to leave the country ‘due to security risks’.

However, Iran could not avoid damage as its capital, Tehran, went up in flames on Sunday.

After several oil and fuel depots were blown up in the Iranian capital, the sky over the city turned a disturbing red and filled with acrid smoke.

Massive fireballs could also be seen exploding across the city skyline as residents complained of a burning smell lingering in the air, as both the US and Israel doubled down on their commitment to fight until the Iranian regime was ‘eliminated’.

The IDF claimed in X that the head of the Iranian Military Department, Abu al-Qasim Baba’iyan, was killed in the latest wave of attacks.

The military official was also Chief of Staff of Hatem al-Anbiya Central Headquarters. He is the last major figure of the regime to be killed in Israeli attacks.

Hegseth said in interview that more US casualties in the war could be expected

Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance are seen during the honorable transfer ceremony of six U.S. troops on Saturday

But authorities in the country remained defiant, appointing a new Supreme Leader on Sunday – Mojtaba Khamenei, second eldest son of the former Supreme Leader.

Mujtaba, 56, According to Iranian media, he has strong ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was elected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts ‘under pressure from the Revolutionary Guard’.

According to the Associated Press, US diplomatic cables had previously described him as ‘the power behind the mantle’ and a key player within the regime.

Although Khamenei did not hold high-level political positions, he was educated alongside religious conservatives at Islamic theological schools in the Shiite holy city of Qom.

Mojtaba Khamenei, pictured in 2019, was removed from a list of three senior clerics his father reportedly named last year, but was announced as the Ayatollah’s successor on Sunday.

Defiant Iranian conservatives rejoice this morning after Ali Khamenei’s son was elected new Supreme Leader

Trump had previously said he would personally choose a new leader and described Khamenei’s son as ‘unacceptable’. Israeli officials had said that they would eliminate the person who would take responsibility for the country from now on.

But videos in Iran showed regime supporters chanting Mojtaba’s name and calling for more attacks in the Middle East soon after his appointment was announced.

In Tehran, large crowds waved Iranian flags and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar, Khamenei Rahbar’. This meant ‘Allah is great, Khamenei is the leader’.

To make matters worse, the Iranian military had promised to respond to any Israeli attack on the country’s energy infrastructure by striking oil fields in the region, after Israel targeted the reserves the night before.

“The governments of Islamic countries are expected to warn the criminal America and the brutal Zionist regime against such cowardly, inhumane actions as soon as possible,” Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for Iran’s central military command, told state television. he said.

‘Otherwise, similar measures will be taken in the region and if you can tolerate oil prices of more than $200 per barrel, continue this game.’