Hegseth says US strikes ‘obliterated Iran’s nuclear ambitions,’ tells Tehran to ‘seek peace’

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that US military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities were an incredible and overwhelming success that have “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The US strikes included 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft, in an operation the top US general, General Dan Caine, said was named “Operation Midnight Hammer.”

“Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated,” Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing.

“We devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” Hegseth said, adding that the operation “did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people.”

Speaking after the secretary, Caine said it was too early to fully assess the impact of the attacks but that the “initial” battle damage assessment was that “all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.”

“No other country on planet Earth” could have conducted the operation, Hegseth added.

He also gave “recognition to our allies in Israel as well.”

Hegseth said the operation involved considerable advance planning, “misdirection” and security, and that the US bombers went “in and out without the world knowing.”

He added that the attacks marked the “first operational involvement” of the MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator).

Trump “seeks peace, and Iran should take that path,” Hegseth said.