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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says the U.S. has won the Iran war and is claiming that there is a “new regime” in place in Tehran.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would agree to a “double-sided” ceasefire with Iran that will see him hold off from further attacks for two weeks in exchange for Tehran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump made the announcement on social media less than two hours before his deadline for what he threatened would be the destruction of Iran’s “civilization.” He said it came after conversations with Pakistani mediators who had been pursuing an end to the war.
Iran’s airforce and missile system has been destroyed, Hegseth said Wednesday, less than a week after Iran shot down a U.S. fighter jet.
“We were locked and loaded. They couldn’t defend against it,” Hegseth said.
While Iran may “shoot here and there” but they can “no longer build missiles,” Hegseth said.
“They can still shoot, we know that” he said.
In a social media post on Wednesday morning, Trump said the U.S. had determined that Iran had “gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change!”
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Hegseth also said a “new regime” was in place in Iran.
On Feb. 28, the first day of the war, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei was killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes. He was promptly replaced by his son Mojtaba Khamenei. U.S. and Israeli strikes also targeted and killed several other top Iranian officials.
“This new regime was out of options and out of time, so they cut a deal,” Hegseth said.
Tuesday’s ceasefire deal also included an agreement on nuclear material, Hegseth said.
“Under the terms, any nuclear material they should not have will be removed,” he said, without elaborating further.
However, Trump said there would be “no enrichment of uranium” and “the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear ‘Dust.’”
The U.S. will also discuss sanctions and tariff relief with Iran, Trump said.
However, he added that any nation selling weapons to Iran “will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately.”
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, said Trump had laid out three objectives – destroy ballistic missile capability, destroy the Iranian navy and destroy their defence industrial capacity.
The U.S. military had achieved these objectives, he said.
EU and NATO leaders, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, issued a joint statement on Wednesday, calling for “quick progress towards a substantive negotiated settlement.”
“The goal must now be to negotiate a swift and lasting end to the war within the coming days. This can only be achieved through diplomatic means,” the joint statement said.
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