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| 2026-04-16 23:31:23
Hegseth-Iran war
Hegseth calls on Iran to 'choose wisely,' says U.S. military 'locked and loaded'
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday urged Iran to "choose wisely," stressing that the U.S. military ensures that it is "maximally postured" to resume combat operations should the Islamic Republic not agree to a peace deal with the United States.
Hegseth made the remarks during a press briefing at the Pentagon alongside Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, as diplomatic efforts are under way to restart negotiations between the U.S. and Iran to reach a deal to end their war.
Washington and Tehran held the first round of their high-level peace talks in Islamabad on Saturday and Sunday, but failed to reach an agreement. Mediated by Pakistan, the talks proceeded in the midst of a two-week ceasefire, which is set to expire next week.
"(Adm. Cooper) continues to implement an ironclad blockade and ensures that our forces are maximally postured to restart combat operations should this new Iranian regime choose horribly and not agree to the deal," the Pentagon chief said, referring to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.
"That is what we urge this morning ... that this new Iranian regime choose wisely," he added.
In a message to Iran's military leadership, Hegseth said the U.S. is "watching you," and that the current war is "not a fair fight" given that U.S. and Iranian military capabilities are "not the same."
"While you are digging out of bombed-out and devastated facilities, we are only getting stronger. You are digging out your remaining launchers and missiles with no ability to replace them. You have no industry, no ability to replenish your offensive or defensive capabilities," he said.
He went on to say, "You can't reconstitute, but we can."
"As you expose yourself with your movement to our watchful eye, we are locked and loaded on your critical infrastructure, on your remaining power generation and on your energy industry," he said.
"We'd rather not have to do it, but we're ready to go at the command of our president and at the push of the button."
Casting the current U.S. blockade of Iranian ports as the "polite way that this can go," Hegseth rejected Iran's claim to "control" the Strait of Hormuz.
"You don't have a navy or real domain awareness. You can't control anything," he said. "To be clear, threatening to shoot missiles and drones at commercial ships that are lawfully transiting international waters ... that is not control. That's piracy. That's terrorism."
He warned that if Iran "chooses poorly," it will have a U.S. naval blockade and "bombs dropping on infrastructure, power and energy," not to mention the Treasury Department's "Operation Economic Fury," a measure to maximize economic pressure on Iran.
During the briefing, Caine said the U.S. joint force will pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any ship attempting to provide material support to Iran through operations in other areas, including the Pacific region under the command of Adm. Samuel Paparo, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
"I will remind you that we are also conducting similar maritime interdiction actions and activities in the Pacific AOR against those ships that left that area before we began the blockade," he said. AOR is short for area of responsibility.
As for an update on the blockade, the general said that 13 ships have so far made the "wise choice of turning around" in line with the U.S. naval direction to do so.
Commenting on Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, Hegseth said Khamenei is believed to be alive, wounded and disfigured.
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