Hegseth: Israel’s strike on South Pars gas field yesterday ‘a warning’ to Iran

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls Israel’s strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field yesterday “a warning,” urging Iran against continuing its retaliatory strikes on energy sites across the Gulf.

“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 says.

The US struck Tehran’s oil export hub on Kharg Island over the weekend.

“The United States military controls the fate of that country. Iran has the ability to make the right choices. It should not, going forward, target Arab allies, Arab countries, trying to create pain,” Hegseth continues.

Alongside Hegseth, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine says that the US is continuing to be “aggressive and assertive” in its efforts to diminish Iran’s missile capabilities amid its attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf.

Neither Caine nor Hegseth repeats US President Donald Trump’s claim that Washington was not informed about Israel’s strike, which has sparked international concern about regional escalation. US sources told The Times of Israel and other media outlets that Washington approved the strike.

“[Iran] came into this fight with a lot of weapons,” Caine says in response to a question about the significance of Iran’s attacks over the past day, which included a gas hub in Qatar and oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

“This is why we continue to be as aggressive and assertive as we can against their ballistic missile capability, both their medium-range ballistic missile capability and their short-range missile capability. So we are continuing to hunt and find them and kill them. And we will continue to do so,” Caine says.