E-Paper
‘Not endless war’: US defence secretary Pete Hegseth says Iran operation ‘not Iraq’
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday that aim of operation against Iran was to destroy Tehran's missiles, Navy and other security infrastructure.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday that military operations against Iran would not lead to an "endless war" and that the aim was to destroy Tehran's missiles, Navy and other security infrastructure.
Hegseth said the operation had a “clear, devastating, decisive mission” to “destroy the missile threat” from Iran, destroy its navy and “no nukes.”
“This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it,” Hegseth said during a press conference at the Pentagon.
"We're hitting them surgically, overwhelmingly and unapologetically," he added.
Hegseth said that the war against Iran is not an effort to build democracy in the Islamic Republic.
"No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise. No politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don't waste time or lives," Hegseth told the news conference.
However, he declined to give a timeline for the operation's completion, saying it was up to US President Donald Trump to decide the length of the military campaign against Tehran.
Hegseth also clarified that there are currently no American troops on the ground in Iran, but left the option open, saying "we'll go as far as we need."
" No, but we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. We'll go as far as we need to go," he said when asked if there were any American boots on the ground.
