The US war against Iran has “completely” destroyed the country’s ability to build missiles and other sophisticated weaponry, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has claimed.
The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire the previous evening, pausing a nearly six-week US-Israeli military campaign against the republic.
“We finished completely destroying Iran’s defence industrial base, a core pillar of our mission,” Hegseth told reporters on Wednesday.
“They can no longer build missiles, build rockets, build launchers or build (drones) – their factories have been razed to the ground, set back in historic fashion,” he said.
“Had Iran refused our terms, the next targets would have been their power plants, their bridges and oil and energy infrastructure,” Hegseth said, after President Donald Trump had threatened to wipe out civilisation in the country if it did not agree to a deal.
90% of Iran’s weapons factories destroyed
General Dan Caine – the top US military officer, who spoke alongside Hegseth – provided details on the destruction of Iran’s defence industry, which was not as total as Hegseth described.
Caine claimed that around 90 percent of Iran’s weapons factories, more than 80 percent of its missile facilities and nearly 80 percent of its nuclear industrial base had been hit.
“Every factory that produced Shahed one-way attack drones was struck,” he said, referring to weapons Iran has repeatedly employed during the course of the conflict, and which it has also provided to Russia for use in Ukraine.