LIVE US to unleash ‘most intense day of strikes’ in Iran, Hegseth says

Pete Hegseth has declared the US will unleash the ‘most intense day of strikes’ inside Iran at a Pentgaon press briefing in Washington.

The Defense Secretary said the US will ‘not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated’.

His comments come after Tehran threatened Donald Trump after the President said he did not believe the new Supreme Leader can ‘live in peace’.

Here are the latest developments on the US-Israel war as it entered its 11th day.

• Donald Trump said the war could be over ‘very soon’ and claimed the US has ‘already won’ but Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was ‘not done’ with Iran
• Trump threatened to bring ‘death, fire and fury’ down on Iran if it were to cut off the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz
• Iranian security chief Ali Larijani warned Donald Trump to ‘be careful not to be eliminated’
• Oil prices dipped following Trump’s announcement as the President indicated he will waive some sanctions on oil due to market turmoil
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces said Tehran will not allow the export of oil from the region to US and Israeli allies as long as the war continues
• Britain is preparing to send a second ship, RFA Lyme Bay, to the Mediterranean to potentially help with evacuations from the Middle East
• Pakistan has deployed its navy to escort tankers through the Gulf amid increasing threats between the US and Iran surrounding the Strait of Hormuz
• Australia has granted asylum to some of Iran’s visiting women’s football team over fears they faced persecution at home for not singing the national anthem before a match.
• Turkey said a US-made Patriot missile defence system would be deployed a day after NATO shot down a second ballistic missile fired from Iran

Stick with us throughout the day as we bring you the latest developments.

Pete Hegseth said Donald Trump had a ‘good call’ with Putin yesterday, but added Russia ‘should not be involved’ in the Iran conflict.

‘The president, as I’ve said before, maintains strong relationships with world leaders, which creates opportunities and options for us in very dynamic ways. So the president said it was a good call,’ he said.

‘I was not on it, but those that were, said it was a strong call reaffirming, hopefully the opportunity for some for some peace in Russia-Ukraine and also, a recognition that as it pertains to this conflict, they should not be involved.’

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said the US is looking at ways to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

‘We’re looking at a range of options there, and we’ll figure out how to solve problems as they come to us,’ he said.

Pete Hegseth said the US military’s will is endless, but insisted the war in Iran will not be endless.

‘We’re in a strong place, giving the President of the United States maximum options from the beginning. We have not stated how long it will take. Our will is endless, and the president gets to determine the end state of those objectives,’ he said on Tuesday.

‘What [Trump’s] said continually, and I want the American people to understand, is this is not endless. It’s not protracted. We’re not allowing mission creep.

‘It’s not for me to posit whether it’s the beginning, the middle or the end. That’s his, and he’ll continue to communicate that.’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to not pursue nuclear weapons.

‘The new leader of Iran, he would be wise to heed the words of our president, which is to not pursue nuclear weapons and come out and state as such,’ Hegseth said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran’s leaders are ‘desperate and scrambling.’

‘The mullahs are desperate and scrambling like the terrorist cowards they are, firing missiles from schools and hospitals deliberately targeting innocence because they know their military is being systematically degraded and annihilated,’ he said.

‘On day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning. With an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives, which are the same as the day I gave my first briefing here on Operation Epic Fury.’

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine gave an update on the status of Operation Epic Fury.

‘Since our last update, CENTCOM continues to make progress across the southern flank. To date, they’ve struck more than 5,000 targets. US Strategic Command conducted 17 drops on some 2,000-pound GPS penetrating weapons on deeply buried missile launchers across the southern flank,’ Caine said on Tuesday.

‘We also struck several one-way drone factories to get at the heart of their autonomous capabilities. And of course, alongside our regional partners along the southern flank, continued to execute intercepts against one-way attack drones using fighters and attack helicopters. Our strikes continue to make significant progress in reducing the number of missile and drone attacks out of Iran.

‘Ballistic missile attacks continue to trend downward 90 percent from where they started. And one-way attack drones have decreased 83 percent since the beginning of the operation.’

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine honored the soldiers who were killed in Operation Epic Fury.

‘Last week, I shared a few of the names, and today, I want to share the rest. Major Jeffrey O’Brien and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Larson were the final two to fall in the return home, and members of the US Army Reserve 103rd Sustainment Command out of Des Moines, Iowa,’ Caine said.

‘Last night, as the news has been reporting, we honored the return of Staff Sergeant Benjamin Pennington of the US Air Force Space Brigade from Fort Carson, Colorado.

‘When I met the Pennington’s’ family last night, his mom, his dad, and his sister, they showed me a picture, a drawing that Ben had made when he was a kid, where it was clear all the way back then that Ben wanted to do one thing in his life, and he wanted to serve his country as a soldier. And to the Pennington’s, just know how Ben was absolutely a great one.’

Caine added, ‘And finally, Major Shreffley gave us a return home this weekend after seven hours.

‘We share in your profound grief, the Joint Force remains eternally grateful for your sacrifice and the gift of a great example that your service represents in all of us. I want you to know that their names will never be forgotten, and you and your family are part of the Joint Force family.’

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth insisted that military action in Iran is not a never-ending war.

‘The last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest number of missiles they have been capable of firing yet,’ Hegseth said on Tuesday.

‘You see, this is not 2003; this is not endless nation-building in the type of quagmire we saw under Bush or Obama. It is not even close.’

He added, ‘Our generation of soldier will not let that happen again, nor will this president, who very clearly ran against those kinds of never-ending, nebulously scooped missions. Those days are dead.

‘Instead, we’re winning decisively with brutal efficiency, total air dominance and unbreakable will to accomplish the president’s objectives on our timeline. We stay locked on the target because here at the Department of War, that is our job.’

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday will be the ‘most intense day of strikes inside Iran.’

‘We’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force. We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated,’ he said at a press briefing.

‘We do so on our timeline and at our choosing. For example, today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran, the most fighters, most bombers, most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever.’

Smoke rises from an airstrike on the village of Abbasiyeh in southern Lebanon

Israeli strikes and mass evacuation orders have seen nearly 700,000 people flee their homes in Lebanon in just over a week, with more than 100,000 fleeing in 24 hours, the UN has said .

‘Lives have been upended on a massive scale,’ said Karolina Lindholm Billing, the representative in Lebanon of UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.

In just over a week since the new escalation in Lebanon, Israeli air strikes and evacuation warnings to residents of dozens of villages ‘forced families across Lebanon to flee within minutes’, she told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Beirut.

She pointed out that ‘more than 667,000 people in Lebanon have now registered on the (Lebanese) government’s online platform as displaced’.

‘This is an increase of 100,000 in just one day,’ Lindholm Billing said, stressing that this is ‘a faster pace of displacement compared to 2024’, during Israel’s last war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

by Adam Pogrund

Iran has warned Donald Trump to ‘be careful not to be eliminated’ after the US President said he did not believe the regime’s new Supreme Leader can ‘live in peace’.

Mr Trump told Iran to brace for ‘death, fire and fury’ for keeping the Strait of Hormuz shut before threatening its new leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

He told Fox the new Supreme Leader will be unable to ‘live in peace’ and he was ‘not happy with the appointment’, having warned Iran he would have the final say over their leader.

But the regime’s security chief Ali Larijani dismissed Mr Trump’s comments, claiming Iran ‘is not afraid of your empty threats’.

He added: ‘Even those greater than you could not eliminate the Iranian nation. Take care of yourself not to be eliminated!’