War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday declared that the U.S. military delivered a "historic and overwhelming victory" over Iran, saying the campaign left the country’s military "combat ineffective for years to come."
"Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield. A capital V military victory," Hegseth said at a morning press conference, aired live on Newsmax and Newsmax 2, just hours after a ceasefire was reached. "By any measure, Epic Fury decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come."
Hegseth, accompanied at the press conference by Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, framed the operation as the culmination of years of escalating tensions.
He said that Iran had been "chanting death to America, targeting our people, killing Americans," while pursuing nuclear capabilities through "blackmailing their way toward a nuclear weapon."