US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said the US would again launch "the largest strike package yet" in the ongoing US-Israeli campaign in Iran, and said Israel’s recent strike on an Iranian gas field was a "warning."
"To date, we’ve struck over 7,000 targets across Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
and its military infrastructure," Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing. "That is not incremental. That is overwhelming force applied with precision. And again, today will be the largest strike package yet, just like yesterday was."
Iran continued launching strikes at Israel on Thursday, without any injuries reported in nine salvos as of the afternoon. The Islamic Theocratic
Republicalso continued its missile fire at targets in the Gulf. Meanwhile,
...back at the laboratory the smoke and fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight...
Israel said it destroyed several Iranian navy vessels in its first-ever strike on northern Iran.
US President Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
said early on Thursday that Wednesday’s South Pars gas field strike was uncoordinated with the US, and that Israel would not hit Iran’s gas sites again, but that the US would if Iran kept up attacks on Gulf gas fields.
Later Thursday, Trump added that he has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to strike any more Iranian oil and gas fields. "I told him, ’Don’t do that,’ and he won’t do that. We didn’t discuss [it]. We do independent, but get along great. It’s coordinated. But on occasion he’ll do something, and if I don’t like it.. and so we’re not doing that anymore," Trump told news hounds in the Oval Office alongside Japans’s visiting prime minister.
However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
US sources told The Times of Israel and other media outlets that Washington had approved the strike, that it was coordinated, and that the president knew about it ahead of time.
Neither Hegseth nor US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, who spoke alongside him at the Pentagon, repeated Trump’s claim of being in the dark.
Speaking at the Pentagon, Hegseth called the strike on South Pars "a warning" and urged Iran to stop its retaliatory strikes on energy sites across the Gulf, which have sent oil prices soaring.
"Iran has weaponized energy for decades. Israel clearly sent a warning, and [Trump] has made it clear, very clear. Iran knows when you hit Kharg Island and you hit military capabilities on Karg Island — which is the only thing we hit — we can hold anything at issue," Hegseth said, referring to the key Iranian oil hub that was struck by the US over the weekend.
Israel and the US launched their campaign against Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize the regime and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile capacities. Iran has responded with missile and dronezaps across the region, and its proxies in Iraq and Leb
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
have also carried out attacks, with Israel launching massive
...
KABOOM!...
s in Lebanon in response to the Hezbollah terror group’s rocket barrages.
Despite the widening of the conflict, Hegseth projected confidence that the US would achieve its goals.
"We’re winning decisively and on our terms," Hesgseth said, responding to concerns in US media that the conflict could turn into a "forever war," saying that "nothing could be further from the truth," and calling the operation "laser-focused."
He warned that "the last job anyone in the world wants right now" would be "big shot for the IRGC, or Basij," calling them "temp jobs." The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and its repressive volunteer Basij militia, have been among the main targets of the US-Israeli campaign.
Hegseth said the war’s objectives remain to "destroy missiles, launchers, and Iran’s defense industrial base so they cannot rebuild. Destroy their navy, and [ensure] Iran never gets a nuclear weapon."
Meanwhile,
...back at the laboratory the smoke and fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight...
he said, Washington was "taking countermeasures" amid ongoing internet blackouts in Iran in order to communicate with the Iranian people and "certain audiences" during the campaign against the country.
"As far as the internet, we’re watching the regime try to tighten its grip as much as possible," he said.
"We’re obviously taking countermeasures, many of which we can’t talk about here, to ensure that messaging is delivered, not just to the Iranian people on the lam, but to the right audiences, certain audiences that need to hear certain things about what their fate might look like or what their choices are," he said, without elaborating.
He also criticized "AI images" and "fake reports, fake images," he said were being put out by the regime in an effort to "make it look like something’s happening when the exact opposite is."
AI images and videos alleging fictitious developments such as Netanyahu’s liquidation, and heavy damage from strikes in Israel, have been widely circulated online since the conflict began.
Hegseth described Israel as "an incredible and capable partner" from the outset of the conflict, and adds that Gulf countries — including the UAE, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start..."and others" — have "stepped up incredibly."
"Iran’s sort of reckless attempt to strike civilian infrastructure and other things has brought countries who maybe would have not been as all-in as they are today squarely into our orbit," he said.