Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, facing an impeachment effort by the soon-to-be Democratically controlled U.S. Congress, repeated his frequent claim on Tuesday that the U.S. had won the war with Iran. Even as Tehran claimed four more ships were stopped by attacks, Hegseth declared the Strait of Hormuz under U.S. control.
“In Operation Epic Fury, by every measure, we achieved a historic MILITARY VICTORY,” Hegseth said in remarks during a briefing that the Pentagon shared on social media.
“Their navy sunk. Their air force grounded. Their defense industrial base — gone. More than 80 percent of their nuclear industrial base — gone. Their military in ruin. The ironclad blockade, UNBROKEN,” declared Hegseth, adding: “We control the Strait of Hormuz.”
All of the embattled defense chief’s assertions have been disputed by Iran, where officials claimed only a month ago that the Islamic Republic’s weapons production capacity had increased by 250% since the war began, with help from Russia and China.
The commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command said he had flown over the Strait of Hormuz in October and seen no Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels, and he declared U.S.-protected shipping lanes through the vital waterway “free and clear.” But Iran has continued to claim daily attacks on commercial vessels that use those shipping lanes, both with missiles and sea mines.
On Iran’s nuclear program, much of it was seriously damaged a year before the U.S. and Israel launched the current war, when they carried out a series of previous strikes in June 2025. U.N. experts believe Iran still has about 972 pounds of 60% enriched uranium, a short step away from the 90% enrichment levels needed for high-yield military warheads, but that it is likely buried under one of the facilities damaged in 2025.
Iran has not, after more than eight months of war, agreed to any renewed monitoring of its nuclear program, or to the removal of its highly-enriched uraniumas part of any potential peace deal.
Source: www.cbsnews.com
