US doesn’t want to pursue war with Iran: Pentagon
Washington, Jun 22: Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth Sunday said that the US ìdoes not seek warî with Iran in the aftermath of a surprise attack overnight on three of that country's nuclear sites while Vice President J D Vance said the strikes have given Tehran a renewed chance of negotiating with Washington.
The mission, called ëOperation Midnight Hammer,í involved decoys and deception, and met with no Iranian resistance, Hegseth and Air Force Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference.
ìThis mission was not and has not been about regime change,î Hegseth added.
Caine said the goal of the operation ó destroying nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan ó had been achieved.
ìFinal battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,î Caine said.
Vance said in a television interview that while he would not discuss ìsensitive intelligence about what we've seen on the ground,î he felt ìvery confident that we've substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon.î
Pressed further, he told NBCís 'Meet the Press', ìI think that we have pushed their programme back by a very long time. I think that it's going to be many many years before the Iranians can develop a nuclear weapon.î
The vice president said the US had ìnegotiated aggressively' with Iran to try to find a peaceful settlement and that Trump made his decision after assessing the Iranians were not acting ìin good faith.î
"I think it provides an opportunity to reset this relationship, reset these negotiations and get us in a place where Iran can decide not to be a threat to its neighbours, not to be a threat to the United States and if they're willing to do that, the United States is all ears,î Vance said.
He said it would make sense for Iran to come to the negotiating table and give up their nuclear weapons programme over the long term. ìIf they're willing to do that, they're going to find a willing partner in the United States of America,î he said, describing a possible chance of a ìresetî for Tehran.
The Pentagon briefing did not provide any new details about Iran's nuclear capabilities. Hegseth said the timeline was the result of a schedule set by President Donald Trump for talks with Iran about its nuclear ambitions.
ìIran found out" that when Trump "says 60 days that he seeks peace and negotiation, he means 60 days of peace and negotiation," Hegseth said. "Otherwise, that nuclear program, that new nuclear capability will not exist. He meant it.î
That statement was complicated as the White House had suggested last Thursday that Trump could take as much as two weeks to determine whether to strike Iran or continue to pursue negotiations.
But the US benefited from Iranís weakened air defences as it was able to conduct the attacks without resistance from Iran.
ìIran's fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran's surface-to-air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission," Caine said.
Hegseth said that a choice to move several B-2 bombers from their base in Missouri earlier Saturday was meant to be a decoy to throw off Iranians. He added that the US used other methods of deception as well, deploying fighters to protect the B-2 bombers that dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on Iran's site at Fordo.
