United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the country had a decisive military victory over Iran and that Tehran’s missile programme was functionally destroyed.
Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine spoke to reporters a day after President Donald Trump from the brink of a threatened full-on assault on Iran on Tuesday night, two hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to open the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
In a media briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday, the US defence secretary said, “Iran’s air force has been wiped out. Iran no longer has an air defence, any sort of a comprehensive air defence system. We own their skies. Their missile programme is functionally destroyed. Launchers, production facilities and existing stockpiles depleted and decimated and almost completely ineffective.”