The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said on Thursday there is no “timeframe” for ending the US war against Iran and did not deny reports that the Pentagon could seek an extra $200bn in taxpayer funding.
The military US-Israeli offensive began three weeks ago and continues to widen. Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to “massively blow up” the world’s biggest gasfield after Israeli strikes on the Iranian site prompted Tehran to escalate strikes on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Hegseth suggested that Thursday would bring the biggest US onslaught so far. “To date, we’ve struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure,” the defense secretary said. “Today will be the largest strike package yet … death and destruction from above.”
Even as oil prices soar and the US president’s approval rating plummets further, Hegseth declined to offer an exit plan. “We wouldn’t want to set a definitive timeframe,” he said, adding that “we’re very much on track” and Trump will 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.’”
The scale of the campaign has grown markedly. In the Gulf, US aircraft and naval units have targeted dozens of vessels, including mine-layers and submarines, as part of an effort to reopen the strategically vital strait of Hormuz, effectively closed by Tehran in the early days of the war.
Hegseth brushed aside suggestions of mission creep as a media invention. The campaign’s goals, he said, are to dismantle Iran’s missile-launching capability, cripple its defense-industrial base and naval fleet and ensure it can never acquire a nuclear weapon.
“Our objectives, given directly from our America-first president, remain exactly what they were on day one. These are not the media’s objectives, not Iran’s objectives, not new objectives. Our objectives – unchanged, on target and on plan.”
In a fresh broadside at the media, Hegseth said: “A dishonest and anti-Trump press will stop at nothing – we know this at this point – to downplay progress, amplify every cost and call into question every step. Sadly, TDS [Trump derangement syndrome] is in their DNA. They want President Trump to fail.”
But he also addressed a media report that the Pentagon has requested more than $200bn in additional funding from Congress to pay for the conflict. The first six days cost close to an estimated $13bn, the Guardian reported on Thursday.
“As far as $200bn, I think that number could move. Obviously it takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth 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.”
Top US military officer Gen Dan Caine, who spoke alongside Hegseth, said the military was “on track” and pushing ever deeper into Iranian territory. Long-range strikes are now penetrating farther east, he said, targeting underground storage facilities, drone garrisons and coastal missile sites with bunker-busting munitions.
Caine outlined the widening geographical scope of the conflict. In the Gulf, A-10 “Warthog” aircraft are being used to hunt fast-attack craft in the strait of Hormuz while, in Iraq, AH-64 Apache helicopters are striking Iran-aligned militia groups. Allied forces have begun deploying similar systems against Tehran’s one-way attack drones.
Hegseth, who has previously expressed sympathy for Christian nationalism, ended his remarks with an overtly religious plea for Americans to pray for US troops “on bended knee with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ”.
He said at the start of the press conference that his address was aimed more at the American public watching than at the media gathered at the Pentagon.
Hegseth said: “The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press should be saying one thing to President Trump – thank you.” He added: “Thank you for the courage to stop this terror state from holding the world hostage with missiles while building or attempting to build a nuclear bomb. Thank you for doing the work of the free world.”
