US 'winning decisively' against Iran, will achieve 'complete control' of airspace within days, Hegseth says
War Secretary Pete Hegseth declared "America is winning" the war against Iran, saying the results in just four days of conflict have been "historic."
Hegseth says more fighters and bombers are arriving daily to the Middle East, adding that the U.S. and Israel wills soon achieve "complete control" over Iranian airspace. Iran's missile capabilities have been drastically diminished in the four days of fighting, and the nation's top leadership positions remain vacant, he said.
"America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy," Hegseth said. "Only the United States of America could lead this. Only us. But when you add the Israeli Defense Forces, a devastatingly capable force, the combination is sheer destruction for our radical Islamist Iranian adversaries."
"They are toast, and they know it," he added. "The two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies. Uncontested airspace."
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"More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today and now, with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500 pound, thousand pound and 2,000 pound. laser guided precision gravity bombs, of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile," he continued.
The U.S. had used "more exquisite standoff munitions" at the outset of Operation Epic Fury, Hegseth said, but the U.S. can now rely on cheaper munitions. He clarified that the U.S. stockpile of premium ordnance remains "extremely strong.
"The enemy can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did. Not even close," he said.
Hegseth also announced that the U.S. and Israel had sunk Iran's prize warship, the Soleimani. The vessel was named after Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the former head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who President Donald Trump had eliminated during his first administration.
"Looks like POTUS got him twice," Hegseth quipped.
His attention then turned to the Indian Ocean, where he said a U.S. submarine sank another Iranian vessel that "thought it was safe in international waters."
"Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two," Hegseth said.