Washington DC [US], March 13 : United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Friday claimed that US and Israeli forces have struck over 15,000 enemy targets in Iran, while claiming that Tehran's military capabilities have been significantly degraded as the conflict enters its fourteenth day.
Speaking alongside the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, during a Pentagon briefing, the War Secretary also expressed his concern over the crash of a KC-135 refuelling aircraft in western Iraq that killed four American service members.
"Between our Air Force and that of the Israelis, over 15,000 enemy targets have been struck. That's well over 1,000 a day. We're on a plan to defeat, destroy, and disable all of their meaningful military capabilities at a pace the world has never seen before. Soon and very soon, all of Iran's defence companies will be destroyed," Hegseth said.
"Their missile volume is down 90 per cent. Their one-way attack drones yesterday were down 95 per cent, and as the world is seeing, they are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz, something we're dealing with," he added.
He further characterised Iran's armed forces as vastly weakened, asserting, "Iran has no air defences, Iran has no air force, Iran has no navy."
On the crash incident of the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker in western Iraq, Hegseth said that "War is hell" and called the four service members who died in the incident "American heroes."
"War is hell. War is chaos. And as we saw yesterday with the tragic crash of our KC-135 tanker, bad things can happen. American heroes, all of them. And as I have with all of them, as we have, we will greet those heroes at Dover, and their sacrifice will only recommit us to the resolve of this mission," he added.
Earlier today, the US CENTCOM confirmed the deaths of four crew members after a US refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday.
In a statement, the US CENTCOM said that a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker went down at approximately 2 pm Eastern Time on March 12, with six crew members on board the aircraft at the time of the incident.
It further stated that rescue operations are currently underway. CENTCOM further clarified that the loss of the aircraft was not caused by hostile fire or friendly fire.
The conflict in the West Asia escalated following the killing of 86-year-old Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in joint military strikes by the US and Israel on February 28, after which Iran, in its retaliation, targeted Israeli and US assets in several Gulf countries and Israel, causing disruption in the waterway and affecting international energy markets and global economic stability.