US-Iran War: No Timeframe For Ending US War Against Iran, Says Pete Hegseth

The United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has declared there is no definite timeframe for ending the military campaign against Iran.

Hegseth, addressing reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday, also declined to deny reports that the Pentagon may request more than 200 billion dollars in additional taxpayer funds to sustain the operation.

The joint US-Israeli offensive, which began three weeks ago, keeps widening as both sides trade heavier blows.

President Donald Trump had on Wednesday vowed to “massively blow up” the world’s biggest gasfield after Iranian retaliation to Israeli strikes on its facilities.

Hegseth said Thursday’s action would deliver the largest US strike package so far, with more than 7,000 targets already destroyed across Iran and its military sites.

“To date, we’ve struck over 7,000 targets,” he stated, adding that the day would bring “death and destruction from above.”

Despite soaring global oil prices and falling approval ratings for President Trump, Hegseth gave no clear exit plan.

He explained that Washington would not set a definitive timetable, insisting the decision to stop rests solely with the president once set goals are met.

In the Gulf, American aircraft and naval forces are hitting dozens of Iranian vessels, including mine-layers and submarines, to force open the Strait of Hormuz which Tehran closed early in the war.

Hegseth brushed aside talk of mission creep as pure media invention.

He stressed that the campaign objectives, issued directly by the America-first president, have not changed: dismantle Iran’s missile force, cripple its defence industry and navy, and ensure it never builds a nuclear weapon.

The defence secretary launched a fresh attack on the press, accusing it of downplaying successes and pushing “Trump derangement syndrome” to make the president fail.

On the funding request, he said the 200 billion dollar figure could rise because “it takes money to kill bad guys.”

The Pentagon will return to Congress to secure proper funding for operations already carried out and those ahead.

Top US military officer Gen Dan Caine, who spoke alongside Hegseth, confirmed the forces remain “on track” and are now striking deeper into Iranian territory with long-range bunker-busting munitions.

Caine said A-10 Warthog aircraft are hunting fast-attack boats in the Strait of Hormuz while AH-64 Apache helicopters target Iran-aligned militias in Iraq.

Hegseth closed the briefing with a direct appeal to Americans to pray for troops “on bended knee with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.”

He made it clear the message was aimed more at the watching public than at the journalists present.

Hegseth added that the world, Europe’s allies and even parts of the US press should be thanking President Trump for stopping a terror state from holding everyone hostage with missiles and nuclear threats.

This escalation is already hitting home in Nigeria.

With the Strait of Hormuz under pressure, crude prices have jumped sharply, raising hopes of a short-term revenue boost for the country’s oil exports that could run into trillions of naira, according to economic analysts.

Yet the same price surge is pushing petrol costs higher at Nigerian pumps, worsening inflation and energy shortages for millions of citizens already struggling with daily living expenses.