WASHINGTON: Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said some American TV channels were airing fabricated news about the failure of US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
He also stated that only the successful US strikes ensured a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, a stance which President Donald Trump had shared a day earlier in The Hague.
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However, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday said that “nothing significant” occurred to nuclear sites struck by the United States earlier this week, during a war with Israel.
“They attacked our nuclear facilities, which of course would merit criminal prosecution in international courts, but they did nothing significant,” he remarked.
Addressing a press conference at Pentagon, Hegseth again reiterated the stance that they had completely destroyed the nuclear sites targeted in in Iran.
On the occasion, the defence secretary, who was accompanied by Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, also shared visual and other proof to substantiate the official stance.
He said Trump had ordered to carry out the most complicated and difficult military operation in history, which was aimed at ending the Iran-Israel war.
To argue his case, Hegseth also cited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which, he said, had confirmed damage to the Iranian sites