US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said today that military operations against Iran will not cause an “endless war” and that the goal is to destroy Tehran's missiles, military fleet and other security infrastructure, the Associated Press and Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
“We are striking them surgically, overwhelmingly and uncompromisingly“, Hegseth said at a Pentagon news conference.
He declined to give a timeframe for the US-Israeli war against Iran and said President Donald Trump would decide how long the military campaign would last.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Kaine, said achieving military objectives in Iran would take time and that more American casualties were expected, adding that the US was continuing to send additional troops to the Middle East, despite already having amassed a huge amount of forces there.
A fourth US service member has died from wounds he sustained during the US operation against Iran.
The news conference by Hegseth and Kane was the first by the Trump administration since the strikes on Iran began on Saturday, the AP notes. Trump himself has given several telephone interviews to various journalists, but has not answered questions on camera and has released only two video messages since the operation began.
“This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime has certainly been changed and that is better for the world“, Hegseth said.
The news conference took place at a time when the conflict appears to be escalating into a larger war in the region, the AP points out.
Meanwhile, witnesses told Reuters that hundreds of Iranians had entered Turkey.
“The situation in Tehran is already complicated“, said a person who arrived from the Iranian capital and spoke on condition of anonymity. "There are complicated things in Tehran, bombings. Everyone is scared. But for ordinary people, for example, nothing happens," he added.