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Agencies

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday there was no “time frame” for ending the US-Israeli war against Iran, which was launched three weeks ago.
“We wouldn’t want to set a definitive time frame,” Hegseth told a news conference, adding that “we’re very much on track” and that President Donald Trump would be the one to decide when to stop.
“It will be at the president’s choosing, ultimately, where we say, ‘Hey, we’ve achieved what we need to.’”
American objectives in the war had not changed since strikes started on February 28, he said.
The US has carried out strikes against 7,000 targets inside Iran, and hit more than 40 Iranian minelaying vessels and 11 submarines.

“Our objectives, given directly from our America-first president, remain exactly what they were on day one,” Hegseth told reporters.
“These are not the media’s objectives, not Iran’s objectives, not new objectives. Our objectives – unchanged, on target and on plan.”
These were to destroy Iran’s missile launchers, as well as its defence industrial base and navy, and to never allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, he said.
The Trump administration is considering deploying thousands of US troops to reinforce its operation in the Middle East, as the military prepares for possible next steps in its campaign against Iran.
Hegseth also addressed a report that the Pentagon has requested more than US$200 billion in additional funding from Congress to pay for the conflict.

“As far as US$200 billion, I think that number could move. Obviously it takes money to kill bad guys,” he said.
“We’re going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded for what’s been done, for what we may have to do in the future.”
This US$200 billion is an extraordinarily high figure and comes on top of extra funding the Defence Department already received last year in Trump’s big tax cuts bill. It is unclear whether the spending request would have support.
Top US military officer General Dan Caine, who spoke alongside Hegseth, provided details on weapons being used against Iran and its allied forces in the region.
Caine said A-10 Warthogs – a type of aircraft designed for providing close air support – were “hunting and killing fast-attack watercraft” in the key Strait of Hormuz waterway, which Iran effectively closed to maritime traffic following the start of the war.
He also said AH-64 Apaches were being used in Iraq to target Iran-aligned militia groups there, and that some US allies have begun using the attack helicopters to counter one-way drones launched by Tehran’s forces.
The US military had dropped 2,300kg (5,000lb) penetrator weapons into underground weapon-storage facilities, he added.
Reporting by Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Reuters


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US-Israel war on Iran

US has no end date for Iran war, strikes ‘very much on track’: Hegseth

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon on Thursday. Photo: AFP

A volunteer salvages belongings from a house damaged in a strike in Tehran on Wednesday. Photo: WANA/Reuters 

Motorists drive past a billboard of Iran’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran on Saturday. Photo: AFP

US Senate rejects bid to curb Trump’s Iran war powers as Pentagon set to increase attacks

Democrat senator Tim Kaine, one of the lawmakers who introduced the Senate resolution, claimed US President Donald Trump had dragged the US into “unnecessary forever wars”. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth. Photo: US Department of War/dpa

‘Severely damaged’: how the US-Israel war on Iran is decoupling Gulf security

Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG hub is the world’s largest for liquified natural gas and has suffered extensive damage after being struck by Iranian missiles on Thursday. Photo: AFP

A troubled US aircraft carrier is moving away from Iran. Does it reflect bigger problems?

The USS Gerald R. Ford has been supporting the American operation against Iran in the Red Sea. Photo: Handout

The USS Gerald R. Ford has been at sea for nearly nine months. Photo: Handout

As war in Iran roils energy markets, Europe pays price of ‘dependency’

A man refuels his car in a petrol station in Villeneuve d’Ascq, north France, on March 11. Photo: Xinhua

Prolonged Iran war could have ‘serious’ impact on food prices, says UN’s FAO

As China and other northern hemisphere countries enter spring planting season, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has said war in the Middle East could have a serious impact on global food prices if it continues beyond three months. Photo: Xinhua

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Trump will be the one to decide when to stop, the defence secretary says, as Pentagon asks for US$200 billion in extra funding


Trump will be the one to decide when to stop, the defence secretary says, as Pentagon asks for US$200 billion in extra funding.


US has no end date for Iran war, strikes ‘very much on track’: Hegseth

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Trump will be the one to decide when to stop, the defence secretary says, as Pentagon asks for US$200 billion in extra funding

Trump will be the one to decide when to stop, the defence secretary says, as Pentagon asks for US$200 billion in extra funding