Defense secretary spoke to reporters in first press briefing since Trump announced ceasefire deal after 40 days of war
After 40 days and 40 nights of war, Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, on Wednesday pointed to divine providence while telling reporters that Iran’s weapons factories had been reduced to rubble, its military rendered ineffective for years and its supreme leader left wounded and disfigured, all for a temporary ceasefire.
“Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it,” Hegseth said at the Pentagon’s first press briefing since Donald Trump announced a two-week pause in hostilities Tuesday night. “Operation Epic Fury decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come.”
Standing alongside the chair of the joint chiefs, Dan Caine, Hegseth said strikes carried out in the final wave before Trump’s self-imposed deadline had “completely destroyed Iran’s defense industrial base”. Iran could still fire what it had stockpiled – he acknowledged “they can still shoot” – but it could no longer manufacture the weapons to replace them.
Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday night that he agreed to suspend military operations – less than two hours before his own apocalyptic deadline to decimate the entirety of Iranian civilization – after a last-minute intervention by Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and army chief Gen Asim Munir.
