Hegseth says US won’t get ‘bogged down’ in Iran – but doesn’t rule out sending troops

The US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has called the joint US-Israeli strikes in Iran the “most lethal and precise air power campaign in history”, indicated the US did not plan to effect a democratic transition in Iran – and refused to establish a clear timeline for how long the US operation will continue.

In the first public remarks by an administration official since the war began on Saturday, Hegseth also said that the US did not have “boots on the ground” in Iran but that he wouldn’t speculate what “we will or will not do”. He also said that four US service members had been killed by a ballistic missile that managed to penetrate allied air defenses.

But speaking soon afterwards, Donald Trump said he did not rule out sending US ground troops into Iran “if they were necessary”.

In an interview with the New York Post the president said: “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground – like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it … I say ‘probably don’t need them’ [or] ‘if they were necessary.’”

Speaking at the Pentagon, Hegseth said that the US goals were to destroy Iran’s navy, its ballistic missiles production, and its potential to produce a nuclear weapon. He repeatedly said that the US would not get bogged down in the conflict, saying that the US operation was not a “democracy-building exercise” and that “this is not Iraq. This is not endless.”

At the same time, he said he would not predict how long it would take for Trump to declare his mission accomplished. “President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take,” Hegseth said, when asked for the US’s exit strategy. “Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up, it could move back.”

The remarks at the Pentagon were the first by US officials other than Trump in the more than 48 hours since the strikes began in an attack that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the US had established local air superiority over Iran by suppressing Iranian air defenses that would “not only enhance the protection of our forces, but also allow them to continue the work over Iran”. He did not give a timeline for the operation, but did say that this “was not an overnight operation” and that the fighting would be difficult. “We expect to take additional losses,” he said.

Trump had authorized the strikes on Friday, Caine said – earlier than previously known and shortly before he departed on a trip to Corpus Christi, Texas. In remarks to press outside the White House on Friday, Trump had indicated that he was still open to negotiations, although at that time he already appeared to have authorised the strike.

Caine detailed how US cyber command and space command moved first, blinding Iranian communications and sensor networks before more than 100 aircraft – fighters, tankers, bombers and drones – launched simultaneously from land and sea. Two carrier strike groups, the Lincoln and the Ford, were involved, and B-2 stealth bombers flew from the continental United States.

The press conference took place shortly before markets were due to open on Monday, where stocks are expected to drop sharply over concerns of a surge in oil prices as the conflict rapidly expanded across at least nine countries in under 10 hours. Iran has launched ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones at Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan and Oman, and major shipping companies have suspended operations through the Strait of Hormuz.

Hegseth gave a full-throated defense of the strikes, saying that “we didn’t start this war, but under President Trump we’re finishing it”.

“It turns out the regime who chanted ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel’ was gifted death from American and death from Israel,” said Hegseth. “This is not a so-called ‘regime change war’, but the regime sure did change.”

He also praised Israel as “capable partners” while mocking the US “traditional allies” who “wring their hands and clutch their pearls … about the use of force”.

Hegseth, who has regularly attacked “political correctness” in the military, basked in a US operation that was being conducted “all on our terms, with maximum authorities”.

“No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars,” he said. “We fight to win, and we don’t waste time or lives, as the president warned, an effort of this scope will include casualties.”

Asked whether the US had boots on the ground in Iran, Hegseth said: “No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.”

Hegseth was asked several times about US objectives and how long it would take to achieve them. “As far as timeframe, I would never hang a timeframe from our perspective,” said Hegseth. “The commander in chief sets the [operational] tempo in terms of this fight, as I said, it’s on his terms. And we’ll make sure that Adm Cooper and his team have everything they need, not just to defend. The best defense is good offense.”

Asked for more details about the deaths of four US service members during the operation, Hegseth indicated that they were struck in a ballistic missile strike. “We have incredible air defenses … Every once in a while you might have one – unfortunately, we call it a squirter – that that makes its way through. And in that particular case, happened to hit a tactical operation center that was that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons.

“In moments like that, as we remember them and we take care of them and take care of their families, only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we we do this properly,” he added.