US wants regime change in Iran? Here's what Pete Hegseth said after Trump struck Iranian nuclear sites

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday (June 22) said that American strikes on Iran's nuclear sites were not a preamble to plans for regime change, adding that private messages had been sent to Tehran encouraging them to negotiate. However, Hegseth warned Iran against following through with past threats of retaliation against the United States, adding that US forces were postured to defend themselves, and take action if needed. Hegseth said the US hit Iran under Operation Midnight Hammer, adding that it was successful and it “devastated the Iranian nuclear program.” He also said that they did not hit Iranian civilians.

“This mission was not about regime change, the president authorised a precision operation to neutralize the threat to our national interest posed by Iranian nuclear programme and active self-defence of our troops and our ally, Israel,” he said.

US enters Israel-Iran war

His statement came after said that ‘there will either be peace or tragedy in Iran' in his address earlier today. In a major escalation of tensions in West Asia, the US bombed three nuclear sites - Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan - in Iran and warned the Islamic Republic of more "precision strikes" if it did not end its conflict with Israel. This came days after the US president said that he would decide within ‘two weeks’ if he needs to bomb Iran. The US strike came on the ninth day of Operation Rising Lion, under which Israel hit several nuclear facilities inside Iran, killing top military officials and nuclear scientists. The Israel Defence Forces said that US strikes “were in coordination with the IDF” and it was a “crucial step stopping the Iranian regime's aggression.”

As America entered the war, Donald Trump also said, "This cannot continue. There will either be peace or tragedy for Iran, far greater than what we have witnessed over the last eight days," Trump told a press briefing at the Oval Office. He also conveyed the goal of the US' strikes, saying, "Our Objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”