Hegseth: Complete control of Iran’s skies to be achieved within a week; ‘death and destruction from the sky’ will follow

Within a week, the US and Israel “will have complete control over Iranian skies,” says US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a Pentagon press conference.

“Uncontested airspace,” he says of an effort that began last night.

That means, he says, “we will fly all day, all night, day and night, finding, fixing and finishing the missiles and defense-industrial base of the Iranian military. Finding and fixing their leaders, and their military leaders.”

He says that Iranian leaders will look up and only see US and Israeli airpower, “every minute of every day until we decide that it’s over.”

“Iran will be able to do nothing about it,” he warns.

“Death and destruction from the sky. All day long.”

The US and Israel “are playing for keeps,” he says, without explaining what that means in practice. US pilots “have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly.” Rules of engagement “are designed to unleash American power, not shackle it.”

“This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight,” he says. “We are punching them when they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.”

This campaign “has seven times the intensity” of Israel’s June operation against Iran. “More and larger waves are coming; we are just getting started. We are accelerated.”

Once air supremacy is established, the US will begin dropping 500-, 1000- and 2000-pound precision bombs, of which the US has a virtually unlimited stockpile, says Hegseth.

US stockpiles of stand-off guided missiles and Patriot missiles remain “extremely strong,” he says, amid concerns the campaign against Iran could deplete American defenses ahead of a potential war with China.

“We can sustain this fight easily, for as long as we need to,” he says. There has been some concern that air defense of America’s Arab allies could run out amid a concerted Iranian missile and drone assault.

Iran can’t adapt to the new challenges it faces, he argues: “Iran’s senior leaders are dead. The so-called governing council that might have selected a successor are dead, missing, or cowering in bunkers, too terrified to even occupy the same room.”

Lower-level fighters can’t communicate, says Hegseth.

“The Iranian air force is no more,” he boasts. “The Iranian navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf.”