Hegseth: US went to war because Iran 'had no intention' of signing a nuclear deal

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ducked a question on whether Iran posed an imminent threat before the U.S. launched Operation Epic Fury, instead arguing that that the country’s slow-rolling of a nuclear deal and its continued nuclear ambitions necessitated the U.S. launching a war that would kill its leaders and degrade its conventional military capabilities as well. 

Hegseth’s comments at a Wednesday morning Pentagon press conference echoed a line of reasoning offered earlier this week by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose rationales have shifted, expanded, and come in for criticism by U.S. officials, regional experts, and lawmakers with access to classified information.

“The evidence in front of us since the 12-day war [of June 2025] was that Iran had no intention of actually negotiating a nuclear deal,” Hegseth said, though he did not clarify why there was a concern about Iran’s nuclear program after the administration had repeatedly touted its “obliteration” as recently as Trump’s State of the Union address in February. 

The U.S. military has been targeting Iran’s short-range ballistic missile capabilities and its navy “to prevent them from threatening the U.S. forces, partners and interests in the region,” Hegseth said.

“They've been killing Americans for 47 years, thousands of missiles pointed at us. They have ongoing nuclear ambitions, and they're at the weakest they've ever been,” he said. “What makes the most sense was to do this to ensure that the narrow objectives we have, of ensuring they never have a nuclear weapon, have a maximum effect.”

During his remarks, Hegseth acknowledged the six U.S. service members who have been killed during the operation so far, saying, “we will avenge them, no doubt,” before moving on to a metaphor about Iran as a football team with no plays left to call.

Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs chairman, took on the task of reading the names of the four dead Army Reserve soldiers who have been identified so far. The Pentagon has not released an update of total injuries thus far. 

“To our wounded warriors and their loved ones, we will never forget your sacrifice,” Caine said. “Our nation stands with you, and we are eternally grateful for your courage, your resiliency, your devotion to this mission and to our nation.”

Since Saturday, Iran’s use of ballistic missiles has dropped 86 percent, Caine said, with a 23-percent decrease in the past day. Their one-way attack drone strikes are down 73 percent since the weekend, he added. 

The drop in activity has allowed the U.S. to secure the air space along Iran’s coast, allowing strikes to “expand inland,” he said.

“I know there have been a lot of questions about munitions. We have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both on the offense and defense,” Caine said. “But I want to tell you, teammates, as a matter of practice, I don't want to be talking about quantities, and I know there's been a great debate about that. I appreciate the interest, but just know that we consider that an operational security matter.”

The U.S. has hit more than 2,000 targets, he said, and destroyed more than 20 Iranian vessels, including one sunk by a U.S. submarine, the first strike of its kind since 1945.

“Iran, on the other hand, has been indiscriminate and more imprecise in their attacks,” Caine said. “They fired more than 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2,000 drones, striking innocent civilian targets throughout the region.”

Asked whether there was any initial assessment as to who bombed the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school on Saturday, killing 160 students, Hegseth would only say that the incident is under investigation.

A year ago, Hegseth moved to dismantle a civilian protection office within the Defense Department that was aimed at reducing collateral deaths during combat operations. 

“Our fighters have maximum authorities, granted personally by the president and yours truly. Our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it,” the secretary said in his prepared remarks. “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they're down, which is exactly how it should be.”