U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared on Wednesday that Iran’s senior leadership has been eliminated and its military capabilities devastated, claiming American and Israeli forces are rapidly achieving total dominance.
Speaking at a joint briefing with U.S. Air Force General Dan Caine, Hegseth described Iran’s military as in a state of collapse less than a week into the conflict.
“Iran’s senior leaders are dead. The so-called governing council that might have selected a successor, dead, missing, or cowering in bunkers, too terrified to even occupy the same room,” Hegseth said.
“Senior generals, mid-level officers, enlisted ranks — they can’t talk or communicate, let alone mount a coordinated and sustained offensive. That’s not great for morale.”
Hegseth claimed Iran’s air and naval forces have been rendered ineffective.
“The Iranian Air Force is no more. Built for 1996, destroyed in 2026,” he stated.
“The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective.”
He said U.S. and Israeli forces expect to achieve “complete control of Iranian skies” within days and warned that reinforcements are already arriving.
“More forces are arriving,” he said. “We’re just getting started.”
Hegseth added that the U.S. will deploy an “unlimited stockpile of precision gravity bombs” as operations expand.
General Caine stated that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is now shifting to “stand-in precision strikes overhead Iran” after initial long-range stand-off attacks.
CENTCOM is targeting Iran’s ballistic missile infrastructure to prevent threats to U.S. troops and regional allies, as well as destroying naval assets to block rapid reconstitution of combat power.
“The next step is to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory and create additional freedom of manoeuvre for U.S. forces,” Caine said.
Hegseth accused Iran of negotiating in bad faith while preparing attacks, though he provided no evidence.
When asked about a Saturday strike on an Iranian girls’ school that reportedly killed over 160 people, Hegseth said the U.S. is “investigating” the incident.
The aggressive rhetoric and expanding U.S.-led operations signal a widening conflict with potential for significant regional destabilisation.
