Washington, DC [US], March 8 (ANI) United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a stark warning on social media, vowing lethal retaliation against any actors who target American citizens.
Posted by U.S. Central Command on X, the message underscored an uncompromising national-security stance. “If you kill Americans, if you threaten Americans anywhere on earth, we will hunt you down without apology and without hesitation, and we will kill you,” Hegseth was quoted as saying.
A 21-second video accompanying the post showed unclassified footage of vehicles and structures being bombed and destroyed by US forces, illustrating the military’s current reach.
Hegseth’s remarks echo recent comments by US President Donald Trump, who on Saturday said the United States had neutralised the entire Iranian leadership, calling the operations the removal of a “cancer” from the global stage.
Traveling to Miami aboard Air Force One, the President described the campaign as progressing well. “We’re winning the war by a lot. We’ve decimated their whole evil empire. It’ll continue, I’m sure, for a little while. The war itself is going unbelievably. It’s as good as it can be,” Trump said.
Trump offered specifics on what he described as strategic gains by US forces, claiming the offensive had dismantled Iran’s maritime and aerial capabilities. “We’ve wiped out their (Iranian) navy, 44 ships. We’ve wiped out their air force, every plane. We’ve wiped out most of their missiles,” he said.
He added that Iran’s ability to conduct offensive strikes appeared severely curtailed. “You see the missiles aren’t coming much anymore. We’ve also hit their manufacturing areas where they make the missiles very hard. Their drone capacity is way down, and we’ve hurt them where it hurts, including about every form of leadership you can have; we’ve wiped out,” the President said.
Responding to reports that an elementary girls’ school in Iran was bombed, Trump denied US responsibility, attributing the incident to Iranian hardware failures and “inaccuracy” in their munitions. “No, I don’t believe so. Based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran. We think it was done by Iran because they’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran,” he said.
Asked about an initial six-week projection for the mission, the President declined to set an end date, saying only that he would do “whatever it takes” and that Iran’s military was near collapse. “I never project time, whatever it takes. But the (Iranian) military is almost nonexistent. We could hit their military itself very hard, but maybe we will, maybe we won’t. We haven’t made that determination,” he said.
Trump also described extensive damage to Iran’s military-supporting industrial infrastructure. “We’ve hit the manufacturing very hard. They’re at about nine per cent of what they sent out in the first two days, and we think that’s because they don’t have that much. We’ve also knocked out about 70 per cent of the rockets, of the launchers. The launchers are a big deal, very hard to get, very expensive,” he explained.
Speaking with the President, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said a diplomatic breakthrough remained possible but ultimately depended on decisions by the White House. “I think there is. I think that’s going to be up to the President, that’s what I think,” Witkoff said. He added that earlier talks had been stalled by Tehran’s unwillingness to compromise. “But they didn’t seem to be very amenable in that first set of negotiations. You heard what I said. They said we have the inalienable right to enrich. They bragged about having 60 per cent enriched fuel, enough for 11 bombs. And they told me and Jared, we’re not going to give you diplomatically what you couldn’t take militarily. So you know, I think they’re going to need a change of attitude,” he said.
The developments followed a joint US-Israel military operation on February 28 that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other high-ranking officials. In retaliation, Tehran launched drones and ballistic missiles at US assets and regional partners, including Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan — an escalation that has increased risks for local civilians and expatriates across West Asia. (ANI)
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