Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the Pentagon’s job was done in Iran, a day after President Trump said he would suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for two weeks. He said U.S. troops were not leaving the region and were ready to defend, go on offense and restart at a moment’s notice.
Hegseth cast the operation as a sweeping success, saying Iran had been a threat to the United States and the free world for 47 years and that the U.S. military had delivered a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield. He said Epic Fury decimated Iran’s military, rendered it combat ineffective for years to come and showed that the Pentagon had dismantled one of the world’s largest militaries in less than 40 days. “We’ll be hanging around,” he said, adding that “this agreement means that they will never, ever possess a nuclear weapon.”
Trump said early Wednesday that there would be no enrichment of uranium under the agreement and that the United States would work with Iran to dig up and remove deeply buried nuclear dust. Dan Caine said the Joint Force had achieved the military objectives as defined by the president over the course of 38 days of major combat operation and said the force welcomed the ongoing ceasefire, hoping Iran would choose a lasting peace.
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The briefing came as oil prices plunged on Wednesday after the ceasefire announcement. At the same time, at least three explosions were heard around Iran’s Lavan Island Oil Refinery, according to Iranian state media, and it was not immediately clear whether U.S. or Israeli forces had launched new attacks there.
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The ceasefire also rested on other moving parts. A White House official said Israel had agreed to the proposal, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late Tuesday night that Israel supports the two-week ceasefire with Iran, though the accord does not cover fighting between Israel’s military and Hezbollah. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Iran had agreed to halt defensive operations if the United States stops attacking Iran. That leaves the truce in place for now, but the air over Iran remains unsettled and the next flare-up may depend on who blinks first.
