The US will have complete, uncontested control of Iranian airspace within days, the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, declared on Wednesday, saying Iran “cannot outlast” American military power and that its capabilities were “evaporating by the hour”. “We are accelerating, not decelerating.” He said the Iranian regime “are toast, and they know it, or at least soon enough, they will know it”. Hegseth spent more time describing the killing of the supposed leader of a plot to assassinate Donald Trump. Caine said that the US had so far struck more than 2,000 Iranian targets and destroyed more than 20 naval vessels. As he did yesterday, Hegseth declined to give any timeline for the operation’s end.

Source: The Guardian March 04, 2026 23:21 UTC