US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has warned that Tuesday would see the “most intense” day of American strikes on Iran yet, as he blamed Tehran for civilian casualties by alleging its forces were firing missiles from schools and hospitals. Speaking alongside General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Hegseth described Iran’s leadership as “desperate and scrambling like the terrorist cowards they are”.
General Caine said US Central Command had struck more than 5,000 targets, destroyed over 50 Iranian naval vessels, and hit several drone factories. He added that US forces had dropped dozens of 2,000lb GPS-guided penetrating weapons on deeply buried missile launchers, and that ballistic missile attacks continued to diminish. Hegseth claimed Iran’s neighbours had abandoned it, and that its proxies – Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas – were “either broken, ineffective or on the sidelines”.
When pressed on civilian casualties, including a strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school that killed more than 165 people, most of them children, Hegseth pivoted to accuse Iran of moving rocket launches into civilian areas. He insisted no nation had taken more precautions to avoid civilian deaths, though he acknowledged investigations “take time”. A preliminary US assessment found the US was “likely” responsible for the school strike, possibly due to dated intelligence.
Hegseth declined to comment on reports that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, had been wounded, but said it “would be wise” for Iranian leadership to renounce nuclear weapons. He emphasised that this conflict would not become another open-ended war, stating: “This is not 2003. This is not endless nation-building.” He added that President Donald Trump “gets to determine the end state” and that “our will is endless”.
