US defence secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday dubbed the US strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites as an “incredible and overwhelming success”. He said the United States obliterated Tehran’s nuclear ambitions with its triple strikes.
Top US military official, General Dan Caine, said that the United States used 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft in the operation.
Hegseth, however, said the strikes were not aimed at a regime change.
“Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated,” Hegseth told reporters in a briefing, adding that the strikes did not target Iranian troops or people.
Donald Trump planned the operation
He also warned that the world should listen when President Donald Trump speaks.
“The operation President Trump planned was bold and it was brilliant, showing the world that American deterrence is back. When this president speaks, the world should listen,” Hegseth added.
He said Donald Trump “seeks peace and Iran should take that path”.
“This mission was not, and has not, been about regime change. The president authorised a precision operation to neutralise the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defence of our troops and our ally Israel,” he added.
The Pentagon further said the US forces used deception, decoys, and fighters to protect US bombers that dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs.
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Announcing the strikes, Donald Trump said on Saturday that many other targets were left, and if peace didn’t come swiftly, the US may go after them.
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“Remember, there are many targets left,” Trump said Saturday in a three-minute address from the White House. “Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.”
Trump said US forces hit nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan, calling the strikes “a spectacular military success.”
Also read: Iran reacts to EU’s negotiation call after US strikes: ‘Can’t return to something it never left’
Iran, meanwhile, has vowed revenge.
Russia and China, two of the US’s biggest rivals in geopolitics, have condemned the attack.
With inputs from AFP, AP, Reuters
US strikes against Iran,Pete Hegseth,Iranian nuclear program,Donald Trump,military success
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