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| ▲ U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., on April 8, 2026. (Yonhap) |
Pentagon chief-Iran war
Hegseth claims 'decisive victory' in Iran war, says U.S. reserves option to get Tehran's uranium
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, April 8 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed Wednesday the United States has achieved a "decisive" and "overwhelming" victory in the war with Iran, adding that the Islamic Republic will hand over its enriched uranium, or the U.S. will "take it out."
Hegseth made the remarks during a press briefing at the Pentagon alongside Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran on the condition that Tehran reopens the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil shipping route.
"Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield -- a capital V military victory," he said. "By any measure, Epic Fury decimated Iran's military and rendered it combat-ineffective for years to come."
The Pentagon chief was referring to the U.S. military operation that kicked off on Feb. 28, aiming to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, defense industrial base, navy and air forces, and deny the regime any pathway to develop nuclear weapons.
On Iran's stockpiles of enriched uranium, he said Iran will hand them over to the U.S, indicating that if Iran refuses to do so, the U.S. would act to take it out.
"Right now, it's buried. We are watching it. We know exactly what they have, and they know that," he said of the uranium stockpiles. "They will give it to us voluntarily. We'll get it. We will take it. We will take it out."
He hinted that the U.S. could consider a military option to secure the uranium storage.
"If we have to do something else ourselves like we did (Operation) Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity," he said, referring to last year's U.S. military operation to strike nuclear facilities in Iran.
"But what's clear, what the new Iranian regime knows is they'll never have a nuclear weapon."
The secretary pointed out that the U.S. military will be "hanging around" to ensure that Iran complies with the ceasefire, comes to the negotiating table and ultimately makes a peace deal with the U.S. He also stressed that it will "stay put," and remain "ready and vigilant."
"Our troops are prepared to defend, prepared to go on offense, prepared to restart at a moment's notice whatever target package would be needed in order to ensure that Iran complies as far as the strait," he said. "You saw the initial agreement that was struck, which is Iran let ships go through."
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