\n<\/p>\n
US Defence Secretary \u2060Pete Hegseth has declared a decisive military victory over Iran and said that Tehran\u2019s missile programme has been functionally destroyed.<\/p>\n
Hegseth and General \u2060Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to reporters on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump pulled back from the \u200cbrink 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOperation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield. A capital V military victory,\u201d Hegseth said, adding that the US-Israeli war on Iran achieved \u201cevery single objective\u201d, including the destruction of its navy, air defence system, and missile production capability.<\/p>\n
The ceasefire deal with Iran means Tehran \u201cwill never, ever possess a nuclear weapon\u201d. Iran\u2019s new leadership \u201cbegged\u201d for a ceasefire because it was \u201cout of options and out of time\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe finished completely destroying Iran\u2019s defence-industrial base, a core pillar of our mission,\u201d Hegseth added. \u201cThey can no longer build missiles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hegseth, however, admitted that Iran is not completely defenceless.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can still shoot, we know that,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can still shoot here and there, but that would be very unwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hegseth said the US military was \u201changing \u2060around\u201d in the Middle East to ensure Iran complies \u2060with the two-week ceasefire and \u2060to monitor the country\u2019s enriched uranium stockpile.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the uranium, we\u2019re watching it. We know what they have, and \u200cthey will give it up, and we\u2019ll get it. We\u2019ll take it \u200cif \u200cwe have to,\u201d Hegseth told reporters.<\/p>\n
Iran also declared \u201cvictory\u201d after Trump\u2019s ceasefire announcement with the country\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d the council said in a statement, according to IRNA.<\/p>\n
It added that Iran, together with its \u201caxis of resistance\u201d in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and occupied Palestine, has \u201cdealt blows to the enemy in the past 40 days that the historical memory of the world will never forget\u201d.<\/p>\n
At the US Defense Department presser, Caine said US military objectives \u2060in Iran have been \u2060met, but the ceasefire is a pause, and forces remain ready to resume combat.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s meeting with the US in Pakistan, if a ceasefire framework is reached.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz throughout the war has upended global oil and gas markets.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The official told Reuters that the reopening of the strait would take place in coordination with the Iranian military.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cended up becoming an absolute disaster\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump needed an exit, and he took it,\u201d Parsi told Al Jazeera, adding that \u201cthe next two weeks are going to be crucial\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you have the potential of becoming a genuine diplomatic opening, but we\u2019re not quite there yet,\u201d Parsi said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US Defence Secretary \u2060Pete Hegseth has declared a decisive military victory over Iran and said that Tehran\u2019s missile programme has been functionally destroyed. Hegseth and General \u2060Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to reporters on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump pulled back from the \u200cbrink of a threatened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}