Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has used a Pentagon press conference to criticise journalists over their coverage of the war in Iran, at one point proposing alternative television headlines.
Hegseth claimed Iran had been left without a functioning air force, navy or missile defence network after 13 days of strikes, and said the combined US-Israeli air campaign had hit more than 15,000 targets since the war began.
“What should the banner [on TV] read?” he said. “How about ‘Iran increasingly desperate’?”
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Meanwhile, Donald Trump warned that Iran could be hit hard in the coming days, as the US president described the leaders of the Iranian regime as “deranged scumbags”.
