Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that the United States is not expanding its military objectives in Iran, even as Donald Trump suggested Washington should have a role in deciding the country’s next leader.
The United States Department of Defense earlier said the ongoing military campaign, known as Operation Epic Fury, is focused on destroying Iran’s offensive missiles, missile production facilities and naval capabilities, while ensuring that Tehran does not acquire a nuclear weapon.
“There’s no expansion in our objectives. We know exactly what we’re trying to achieve,” Hegseth said.
He added that Trump was “having a heck of a say in who runs Iran given the ongoing operation.”
In a telephone interview with Reuters on Thursday, Trump said the United States would need to help select Iran’s next leader. The US-Israeli military campaign, which began on Saturday, has struck targets across Iran and triggered retaliatory strikes by Tehran across the region as it seeks to impose costs on the United States, Israel and their allies.
Iran has launched attacks against countries including Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. In Bahrain, firefighters extinguished a blaze at a refinery following a missile strike.
Azerbaijan also said Iran had fired drones into its territory and ordered its southern airspace closed for 12 hours, becoming the latest country drawn into the escalating tensions.
Hegseth said Iran’s attacks on regional countries would only strengthen their alignment with the United States.
“It’s actually firming up the unity of the resistance in order to focus exactly where we need to,” he said.
Next phase of operations
The United States has struck more than 2,000 targets in Iran, including warships. Brad Cooper, head of United States Central Command, said US forces had destroyed 30 Iranian warships, including an Iranian drone-carrier vessel earlier on Thursday.
Cooper said the campaign was aimed at crippling Iran’s ability to rebuild its military capabilities.
“As we transition to the next phase of this operation, we will systematically dismantle Iran’s missile production capability for the future, and that’s absolutely in progress,” he said, adding the process would take time.
The US military has also identified the six United States Army Reserve soldiers killed when a drone struck a US military facility in Port Shuaiba.
Trump and other senior officials have warned that the conflict with Iran could lead to further US military casualties. Hegseth said Tehran was making a serious miscalculation if it believed Washington could not sustain the war effort.
“Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation,” he said. “We set the timeline.”
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