Hegseth says he visited the Middle East during Pentagon briefing on Iran war
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine briefed reporters on the war in Iran Tuesday morning, with Hegseth revealing he recently took a secret trip to the Middle East.
“We were on the ground,” Hegseth said, noting he was in the Middle East for about half the day on Saturday. “For reasons of operational security, so those troops are not targeted, the places and bases will not be named. Suffice it to say, the trip was an honor.”
During the visit, Hegseth said he asked troops what they needed, and they told him “let’s finish the mission.”
“Nobody said better equipment. Nobody said more comfortable living conditions. Nobody said, ‘Send me home.’ Well, of course, eventually we want all those things they do too,” Hegseth said. “But what those Americans said to me, young and old, officer and NCO, male and female, Black and white, was, ‘Let’s finish the mission. Get us even more bombs, bigger bombs, more targets.”
Latest war updates
The updates from Hegseth and Caine come after another night of strikes between the United States, Israel and Iran.
A massive fireball could be seen in the central Iranian city of Isfahan overnight. President Donald Trump shared a video of it on social media, but added no context and did not say if it was due to a U.S. strike.
Isfahan is home to one of three nuclear sites attacked by the U.S. military last June. It’s believed that Iran’s highly enriched uranium is stored or buried or there.
Iranian state media also reported explosions across Tehran overnight Monday into Tuesday, with temporary power outages after shrapnel hit an electrical substation.
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Hegseth noted that in the past 24 hours, the number of missiles and drones Iran has launched is the lowest number the regime has launched so far during the war. And Caine noted that American B-52 bombers have begun flying over Iran, taking advantage of U.S. air superiority.
Oil infrastructure also continues to take major hits. Israel’s Haifa refinery was attacked Monday.
And a Kuwaiti supertanker, the Al Salmi, was hit off the coast of Dubai. No injuries or leaks reported, but state media said the ship was fully loaded at the time.
As a result of all the uncertainty, gas prices are climbing. The national average has now topped $4 a gallon, according to AAA. It marks a Trump-era high and a more than $1 per gallon increase since the war started.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
