US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has warned Iran that Tuesday will be “yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran”.
“The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever,” he told the media at a Pentagon press conference.
Hegseth noted that “the last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest amount of missiles they have fired yet”.
Amid mixed messaging on the duration of the war, Hegseth again promised the Trump administration was not entering into another Middle East quagmire.
“This is not 2003, this is not endless nation building… It’s not even close. This generation of soldiers, and this president won’t let that happen,” he said.
General Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said US forces hit more than 5000 targets, and that their three objectives included the destruction of Iranian ballistic missile and drone capability, hitting Iran’s navy to allow movement through the Strait of Hormuz, and hitting “deeper into Iran’s military and industrial base.”
Caine also confirmed that the US was carrying out strikes against Iranian mine-laying vessels.
The war has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil and liquefied natural gas transport, leaving tankers unable to sail for more than a week and forcing producers to halt pumping as storage fills.
With AP, Reuters
