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US defence chief declares total military victory over Iran, matching earlier victory claims from Tehran amid two-week ceasefire.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has declared a decisive military victory over Iran and said that Tehran’s missile programme has been functionally destroyed.
Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to reporters on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump pulled back from the brink of a threatened full-on assault on Iran two hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to open the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
“Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield. A capital V military victory,” Hegseth said, adding that the US-Israeli war on Iran achieved “every single objective”, including the destruction of its navy, air defence system, and missile production capability.
The ceasefire deal with Iran means Tehran “will never, ever possess a nuclear weapon”. Iran’s new leadership “begged” for a ceasefire because it was “out of options and out of time”.
“We finished completely destroying Iran’s defence-industrial base, a core pillar of our mission,” Hegseth added. “They can no longer build missiles.”
Hegseth, however, admitted that Iran is not completely defenceless.
“They can still shoot, we know that,” he said. “They can still shoot here and there, but that would be very unwise.”
Hegseth said the US military was “hanging around” in the Middle East to ensure Iran complies with the two-week ceasefire and to monitor the country’s enriched uranium stockpile.
“On the uranium, we’re watching it. We know what they have, and they will give it up, and we’ll get it. We’ll take it if we have to,” Hegseth told reporters.
Iran also declared “victory” after Trump’s ceasefire announcement with the country’s Supreme National Security Council calling on its citizens to remain united until details of its victory in the war are finalised, the IRNA news agency says.
“We congratulate all the people of Iran on this victory and emphasise that until the details of this victory are finalised, there is still a need for perseverance and prudence on the part of the authorities,” the council said in a statement, according to IRNA.
It added that Iran, together with its “axis of resistance” in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and occupied Palestine, has “dealt blows to the enemy in the past 40 days that the historical memory of the world will never forget”.
At the US Defense Department presser, Caine said US military objectives in Iran have been met, but the ceasefire is a pause, and forces remain ready to resume combat.
Opening the Strait of Hormuz
A senior Iranian official has told the Reuters news agency that Tehran could open the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday or Friday before the country’s meeting with the US in Pakistan, if a ceasefire framework is reached.
Iran’s paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz throughout the war has upended global oil and gas markets.
As a part of its ceasefire deal with the United States, Tehran has agreed to allow the safe transit of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
The official told Reuters that the reopening of the strait would take place in coordination with the Iranian military.
Trita Parsi, vice president at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said the US president needed a way out of the war because it had “ended up becoming an absolute disaster”.
“Trump needed an exit, and he took it,” Parsi told Al Jazeera, adding that “the next two weeks are going to be crucial”.
“I think you have the potential of becoming a genuine diplomatic opening, but we’re not quite there yet,” Parsi said.
