United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered an update on Friday on the ongoing operation against Iran.
He opened by declaring that the US is "decimating the Iranian regime's military in a way the world has never seen before." According to Hegseth, "Never before has a modern, capable military, which Iran used to have, been so quickly destroyed and made combat ineffective. We said that it would not be a fair fight, and it has not been."
He praised the US's Israeli partners, stating that the "combination of the world's two most powerful air forces is unprecedented and unbeatable. Between our air force and that of the Israelis, over 15,000 enemy targets have been struck, that's over 1000 a day. No other combination of countries in the world could do that... Looking up, the IRGC and Iranian regime only see two things on the side of aircraft: the stars and stripes and the Star of David. The evil regime's worst nightmare."
He noted that their missile volume is down 90% and their one-way attack drones are down 95%. He added that their ability to produce more weaponry has also been disabled.
Regarding the Iranian leadership, the Secretary of War declared that "desperate and hiding, they've gone underground, cowering. That's what rats do."
According to Hegseth, the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is wounded and likely disfigured.
Later in the briefing, he said that "today will be, yet again, the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran."
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, addressed the refueling aircraft crash, saying it went down over western Iraq during a combat mission and was not a result of enemy fire.
Hegseth called reports that Iran intended to launch drones on California, "Ill-informed reporting."
Asked how the US intends to contend with Iran's enriched uranium, Hegseth said that the US "retains options across the spectrum" to ensure that Iran never obtains nuclear weapons.
Regarding the nature of munitions currently being used to strike Iran, Secretary Hegseth revealed that only 1% of them are "standoff munitions," which are fired at a distance; the rest, according to him, are "over the top," which are dropped from right above the enemy.