{"id":204731,"date":"2026-03-20T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/no-timeframe-for-ending-us-war-against-iran-says-pete-hegseth-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T05:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:00:33","slug":"no-timeframe-for-ending-us-war-against-iran-says-pete-hegseth-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/no-timeframe-for-ending-us-war-against-iran-says-pete-hegseth-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"No timeframe for ending US war against Iran, says Pete Hegseth – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

US defense secretary suggests Thursday will be \u2018largest strike package yet \u2026 death and destruction from above\u2019
Middle East crisis \u2013 live updates<\/a>
Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox<\/a>
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth<\/a>, said on Thursday there is no \u201ctimeframe\u201d 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<\/a> began three weeks ago and continues to widen. Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday<\/a> to \u201cmassively blow up\u201d the world\u2019s 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<\/a>, Hegseth suggested that Thursday would bring the biggest US onslaught so far. \u201cTo date, we\u2019ve struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure,\u201d the defense secretary said. \u201cToday will be the largest strike package yet \u2026 death and destruction from above.\u201d
Even as oil prices soar<\/a> and the US president\u2019s approval rating plummets further, Hegseth declined to offer an exit plan. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t want to set a definitive timeframe,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cwe\u2019re very much on track\u201d and Trump will be the one to decide when to stop.
\u201cIt will be at the president\u2019s choosing, ultimately, where we say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019ve achieved what we need to.\u2019\u201d
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\u2019s goals, he said, are to dismantle Iran\u2019s missile-launching capability, cripple its defense-industrial base and naval fleet and ensure it can never acquire a nuclear weapon.
\u201cOur objectives, given directly from our America-first president, remain exactly what they were on day one. These are not the media\u2019s objectives, not Iran\u2019s objectives, not new objectives. Our objectives \u2013 unchanged, on target and on plan.\u201d
In a fresh broadside at the media, Hegseth said: \u201cA dishonest and anti-Trump press will stop at nothing \u2013 we know this at this point \u2013 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.\u201d
But he also addressed a media report<\/a> 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<\/a> on Thursday.
\u201cAs far as $200bn, I think that number could move. Obviously it takes money to kill bad guys,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cWe\u2019re going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we\u2019re properly funded for what\u2019s been done, for what we may have to do in the future.\u201d
Top US military officer Gen Dan Caine<\/a>, who spoke alongside Hegseth, said the military was \u201con track\u201d 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 \u201cWarthog\u201d aircraft are being used to hunt fast-attack craft in the strait of Hormuz<\/a> while, in Iraq<\/a>, AH-64 Apache helicopters are striking Iran-aligned militia groups. Allied forces have begun deploying similar systems against Tehran\u2019s one-way attack drones.
Hegseth, who has previously expressed sympathy for Christian nationalism<\/a>, ended his remarks with an overtly religious plea for Americans to pray for US troops \u201con bended knee with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ\u201d.
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: \u201cThe world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press should be saying one thing to President Trump \u2013 thank you.\u201d He added: \u201cThank 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US defense secretary suggests Thursday will be \u2018largest strike package yet \u2026 death and destruction from above\u2019Middle East crisis \u2013 live updatesSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said on Thursday there is no \u201ctimeframe\u201d for ending the US war against Iran […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-204731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}