Hegseth claims Iran's nuclear ambitions 'obliterated' after U.S. strikes

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Sunday that "Iran's atomic ambitions person been obliterated," hours aft the United States attacked 3 major atomic nuclear enrichment facilities.

Hegseth, who praised President Donald Trump's bid arsenic "focused, it was powerful, and it was clear," said that the late-night ngo was "not and has not been astir authorities change" successful Iran.

"The president authorized a precision cognition to neutralize the threats to our nationalist involvement posed by the Iranian atomic programme and the corporate self-defense of our troops and our state Israel," helium said during an aboriginal greeting property conference.

Hegseth was echoing remarks made by Trump late Saturday pursuing the attacks, erstwhile helium hailed the "destruction of Iran's atomic enrichment capacity."

But the afloat grade of the harm to Iran's atomic capabilities was not instantly clear.

The president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said Sunday that determination was "severe harm and destruction" to the facilities astatine Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, but did not spell truthful acold arsenic to accidental that Iran's atomic capacities had been "obliterated."

"Final conflict harm volition instrumentality immoderate time, but archetypal conflict harm assessments bespeak that each 3 sites sustained highly terrible harm and destruction," Caine said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Tehran has each options to support its sovereignty and radical aft the "outrageous" U.S. attacks.

Caine, speaking from the podium astatine the Pentagon, outlined a timeline of the strikes connected Iran, an cognition that has been called "Operation Midnight Hammer" by the Trump administration.

He said that immoderate B-2 bombers that were launched from the U.S. overnight Friday were a decoy, portion the others "proceeded softly to the eastbound with minimal communications passim the 18-hour flight."

More than 125 aircrafts participated successful the operation, including the stealth B2 bombers.

Caine said that the Pentagon was "unaware" of immoderate shots fired astatine the bombers connected their hold retired of Iran.

"Iran's fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran's surface-to-air rocket systems did not spot america passim the mission. We retained the constituent of surprise," Caine said.