Middle East crisis live: Hegseth says ‘we are winning’ in war against Iran as US ramps up to ‘most intense day of strikes’

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Hegseth says the aftermath of the conflict is “going to be in America’s interests” and says it “will not live under a nuclear blackmail” from Iran.

It comes shortly after the defence secretary reiterated president Donald Trump’s claim that if Iran does anything to prevent the flow of oil in the strait of Hormuz, it will be hit “twenty times as hard”.

That concludes the press conference.

Asked what measures the Pentagon is taking to minimise loss of civilian life in Iran, Hegseth says “no nation takes more precautions to ensure there is never targeting of civilians than the USA”.

“Where things happen that need to be investigated, we will investigate,” he says. “Open-source is not the way to determine what did or did not happen.”

He goes on to paint Iran as a regime that targets civilians and says it has moved military infrastructure into civilian areas.

Asked about the Iranian government’s assertion that is is prepared for a “long war” and America’s ability to defend its personnel, Hegseth says the US is giving every possible resource to its troops on the frontline to ensure they are “properly defended”.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth Photograph: Reuters

Hegseth: Iran made a 'big mistake' targeting its neighbours

General Caine says US forces are able to move around with “relative impunity” but acknowledges “there is always a risk”.

Commenting on Iran’s attacks on fellow Gulf states, Hegseth says:

Big mistake by the Iranian regime in attacking it’s neighbours, right away … flailing recklessly.

He says it demonstrates a miscalculation of the Iranian regime by pushing other countries into supporting the US campaign.

Hegseth says the new leader of Iran “would be wise to heed the words of our president not to pursue nuclear weapons”.

He was asked by a reporter if he can comment on the new supreme leader’s status amid reports he had been injured but Hegseth says he cannot talk about that.

“This is not endless, this is not protracted,” Hegseth says. “It’s not for me to posit whether it’s the beginning, middle or the end – that’s up to him [president Trump].”

Caine says the US forces’ work continues and that it will “continue to be difficult” and concludes that the sacrifice of those who have died “will be felt forever”.

Hegseth adds that no other nation in the world would be capable of carrying out the campaign that the US is right now.

Asked about the degradation of Iran’s military capability, Hegseth says that there is strong evidence of its ballistic missile and drones being degraded.

Hegseth adds that today will be “the most intense day of strikes”, while Iran has fired its lowest number of weapons in the past 24 hours.

General Dan Caine opens his remarks by paying tribute to the American servicemen who have died as a result of Trump’s war on Iran.

Updating on the progress in the conflict, he says the joint force remains focussed on its three main objectives – destroying missiles and drone capability before it can threaten American interests, strike and degrade the Iranian navy and prevent the regime from being able to attack the US and its partners “for years to come”.

Caine adds:

Ballistic missile attacks continue to trend downwards, down 90% from when we started.

He adds that the US is striking Iranian mine-laying missiles. The general says “this is gritty and tireless work” and expresses his pride in the performance of the joint force throughout the campaign.

Hegseth: US is 'winning' its war with Iran

Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, kicks off by saying Operation Epic Fury “hits home” because of his own experiences in the Iraq war.

He says the Iranians are “racing towards a nuclear bomb” and says US president Donald Trump “will never allow it”.

Hegseth says the mullahs know that their military is being “systematically degraded” and that Iran “stands alone and is badly losing”.

By contrast, he says, America is “winning” and is executing its objectives to destroy its missiles, its navy and “permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons forever”.

He adds:

We will not relent until the enemy is totally and entirely defeated.

He says “this is not 2003 and it is not endless nation-building” in an attempt to put daylight between this bombing campaign and the US’s previous forays into Middle Eastern conflict.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth and general Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, are scheduled to begin momentarily a briefing at the Pentagon on the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Stay tuned for updates.

Trump says it’s possible he could talk to Iran

Earlier, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, played down the idea of talks. “I don’t think the question of talking with Americans or negotiation with Americans once again would be on the table, because we have a very bitter experience of talking with Americans,” he told PBS News Hour in an interview that aired Monday.

“We negotiated with them last year, in last June, and they attacked us in the middle of negotiations. And again this year, they tried to convince us that this time is different. They promised us that they don’t have any intention to attack us…but, again, after three rounds of negotiation, and after the American team in the negotiation said itself that we made a big progress, still they decided to attack us. So I don’t think talking with Americans anymore would be on our agenda anymore.”

Here are some images coming out of Lebanon, which was hit with a fresh wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting Al-Qard Al-Hassan, the US-sanctioned financial organisation that Israel has accused of financing the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

A man passes in front of a destroyed building that housed a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh on 10 March 2026. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

A bust of the late Iranian General Qassem Suleimani stands in front of a destroyed building that housed a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan in Dahiyeh on 10 March 2026. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

A bulldozer removes the wreckage of destroyed shops at a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh on 10 March 2026. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

The Israeli military has announced that it has begun another fresh wave of strikes on Tehran.

Bombing of Iran’s oil infrastructure to have major environmental fallout, experts warn

Israel’s bombing of Iran’s oil infrastructure will have major long-term environmental repercussions, experts have warned, as monitors admitted they were struggling to keep track of the environmental disasters arising from the widening war.

Even as Iranians filled the streets to mark the appointment of a new supreme leader, the Shahran oil depot north-east of Tehran and the Shahr-e fuel depot to its south continued to burn on Monday, two days after they were bombed by Israeli warplanes.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Iran’s environmental agency and the Iranian Red Crescent Society had warned Tehran residents to stay at home, warning the toxic chemicals spread by airstrikes on five fossil fuel installations around the city could lead to acid rain and damage the skin and lungs.

On Monday, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “Damage to petroleum facilities in Iran risks contaminating food, water and air – hazards that can have severe health impacts especially on children, older people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions.”

Iran to EU: 'spare the hypocrisy'

A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday had harsh words for Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.

In response to von der Leyen’s remarks that the “people of Iran deserve freedom, dignity, and the right to decide their own future”, Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X: “Please spare the hypocrisy”.

“You’ve made a career out of standing on the wrong side of history — green-lighting occupation, genocide, and atrocities, and now laundering U.S./Israeli crime of aggression and war crimes against Iranians,” Baqaei wrote.

Baqaei continued: “Where was your voice when more than 165 innocent IRANIAN little angels were massacred in the city of Minab? Why don’t you say anything when hospitals, historical sites, oil facilities, diplomatic police headquarter, firefighting stations and residential neighborhoods are wickedly targeted?

“Silence in the face of lawlessness and atrocity is nothing less than complicity.”

A UK government minister has said she expects police to take “robust action” against those expressing support for the Iranian regime ahead of a pro-Palestinian rally in London this weekend.

Sarah Sackman was speaking in advance of the annual annual Al Quds Day march in London on Sunday, which is organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC).

The body says that the event has taken place peacefully for the past 40 years and will attempt to highlight the ongoing plight of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

However, previous events have included participants waving the flag of the Iran-backed Lebanese group, Hezbollah, which is banned in the UK as a terrorist organisation. Rhetoric including chants calling for death to America and Israel have also been highlighted in the past.

The Courts minister, Sarah Sackman, told LBC radio on Tuesday: “Those expressing support for the malign regime in Iran and the IRGC and its proxies have no place in our society.”

“They shouldn’t be on the streets of London calling for hate and hostility against this country. That’s thoroughly anti-British and I expect the police and the Home Secretary to take the necessary action against those people.”

On Times Radio, she said: “I’m clear that hate marches like the Al Quds march has no place in British society and the authorities and the police should take the enforcement action needed against these marches.”

The Metropolitan Police has said it has not ruled out a range of options ahead of the march, including seeking the imposition of an outright ban on the rally this weekend.