US War Minister Pete Hegseth stated in a CBS News interview that operations against Iran are going according to plan and that the US will not set a time limit until Iran's nuclear ambitions are entirely dismantled.
US War Minister Pete Hegseth outlined the ongoing military campaign against Iran in an interview with CBS News, stating that military operations against Iran are proceeding according to the plan. According to the Qatar-funded pan-Arab network Al Jazeera, Hegseth clarified that the United States is not yet prepared to announce an early victory. This sentiment was widely broadcast across regional media, including by the Iraqi channel One Iraq and the Al Jazeera Palestine network.
Hegseth stressed a definitive commitment to neutralizing Iran's nuclear capabilities. He firmly refused to place a time limit on the war, declaring that the US is ready to go to the furthest possible extent to ensure Iran never acquires nuclear weapons. These remarks were heavily circulated by regional outlets, including the state-owned Iraqi News Agency (INA) and the Yemen News Network.
Despite the scale of the ongoing conflict, Hegseth indicated that the campaign has room to escalate. The Syrian opposition-aligned network Syria TV highlighted his assertion that the US has not yet started the phase of using heavy bombs against Iranian military targets. Furthermore, the channel reported Hegseth's claim that what was formerly known as the Iranian Navy practically no longer exists.
Arabic-language media strongly amplified Hegseth's blunt remarks regarding the eventual conclusion of the conflict. The US War Minister warned that a time will come when Iran will have no choice but to surrender. Regional aggregator Al-Hudhud and Al Jazeera both noted his defiant addendum that the surrender ceremony in Tehran is left to the Iranian side.
Sources consistently refer to the US Secretary of Defense as the 'US War Minister' (وزير الحرب الأمريكي). In accordance with instructions to preserve the original tone and avoid sanitizing or using quotation marks for biased terminology, this literal translation was retained in the digest. A secondary prompt instruction referenced translating to Hebrew, but because the primary formatting and structural rules mandated English output, the core translation fidelity rules regarding tone and terminology were applied strictly to the English translation.