US forces will be ‘hanging around’ Middle East after Iran ceasefire, Hegseth says

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday emphasized that American forces would be “hanging around” in the Middle East for the duration of the armistice between the United States, Israel and Iran — even as Washington edges toward an offramp from its 38-day campaign.

The remarks came one day after President Donald Trump declared a two-week ceasefire with Iran, stepping back from earlier threats to level Iranian civilization. The president said he hopes the pause will pave the way for negotiations toward a longer-term agreement.

Hegseth noted that the United States had carried out more than 800 strikes against targets in the hours leading up to the pause in hostilities.

He added that if Tehran had refused to agree, attacks would have expanded to include “power plants, the bridges and oil and energy infrastructure.”

The defense secretary went on to hail Operation Epic Fury as a “historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield,” painting a picture of an Iranian military in ruins.

“Central Command, using less than 10% of America’s total combat power, dismantled one of the world’s largest militaries, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” Hegseth said during a news conference at the Pentagon. “Their mission program is functionally destroyed. Launchers, production facilities and existing stockpiles, depleted, and decimated.”

Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, enumerated the claimed results of the U.S. offensive in Iran: 80% of Iran’s air-defense systems destroyed, 800 one-way attack drone storage facilities and 450 ballistic missile storage facilities hit, and 150 ships sunk.

“Epic Fury decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come,” Hegseth asserted. “Iran’s Navy is at the bottom of the sea...Iran’s Air Force has been wiped out.”

But despite the devastation, Tehran has remained defiant. The Islamic Republic, using a decentralized command structure built to survive decapitation, orchestrated an average of 120 drone and missile attacks per day across the region throughout the conflict’s duration. Crucially, it also maintained effective control over the Strait of Hormuz — a strategic leverage that sent oil prices soaring.

Since the start of the war on Feb. 28, 13 American service members had been killed in action and more than 365 had been wounded, according to the Pentagon.

Caine, for his part, struck a note of more guarded pragmatism.

“We welcome the ongoing ceasefire,” he said. “Let us be clear: a ceasefire is a pause, and the joint force remains ready if ordered or called upon to resume combat operations with the same speed and precision as we’ve demonstrated over the last 38 days. And we hope that that is not the case.”

Asked by reporters about Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, Hegseth expressed hope that Tehran would hand it over to Washington “voluntarily.” If not, he warned, America might still try to seize the material by force.

“It’s buried, and we’re watching it, we know exactly what they have,” Hegseth said.

“They’ll give it to us voluntarily,” he continued. “Or if we have to do something else ourselves — like we did in Midnight Hammer or something like that — we reserve that opportunity."

Tanya Noury is a reporter for Military Times and Defense News, with coverage focusing on the White House and Pentagon.

美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯周三强调，即使华盛顿正逐步结束其持续 38 天的军事行动，美国军队仍将在美国、以色列和伊朗之间的停战协定有效期内“留在”中东。

就在特朗普总统宣布与伊朗停火两周的第二天，他发表了上述言论。此前，他曾威胁要摧毁伊朗文明。特朗普总统表示，他希望此次停火能为达成长期协议的谈判铺平道路。

赫格塞斯指出，在停火前的几个小时里，美国对目标进行了 800 多次打击。

他还补充说，如果德黑兰拒绝同意，袭击范围将会扩大到“发电厂、桥梁以及石油和能源基础设施”。

国防部长随后称赞“史诗狂怒行动”是“战场上的历史性、压倒性的胜利”，并描绘了一幅伊朗军队溃败的景象。

“中央司令部仅动用了美国不到10%的作战力量，就瓦解了世界上规模最大的军队之一，也是全球最大的恐怖主义国家赞助者，”赫格塞斯在五角大楼的新闻发布会上说。“他们的任务计划已被彻底摧毁。发射装置、生产设施和现有库存都被耗尽并大幅削弱。”

赫格塞斯和参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩将军列举了美国在伊朗发动攻势所取得的成果：伊朗 80% 的防空系统被摧毁，800 个单向攻击无人机储存设施和 450 个弹道导弹储存设施遭到袭击，150 艘舰船被击沉。

“史诗狂怒行动重创伊朗军队，使其在未来数年内丧失作战能力，”赫格塞斯断言。“伊朗海军已沉入海底……伊朗空军已被彻底摧毁。”

尽管遭受重创，德黑兰依然不屈不挠。伊朗伊斯兰共和国利用其为应对权力分散而构建的去中心化指挥体系，在整个冲突期间，平均每天在该地区发动120次无人机和导弹袭击。至关重要的是，它还有效控制了霍尔木兹海峡——这一战略优势推高了油价。

据五角大楼统计，自2月28日战争开始以来，已有13名美国军人在战斗中阵亡，超过365人受伤。

凯恩则表达了一种更为谨慎的实用主义态度。

他说：“我们欢迎目前的停火。但必须明确一点：停火只是暂时的，如果接到命令或征召，联合部队随时准备以过去38天来展现的同样速度和精准度恢复作战行动。我们希望这种情况不会发生。”

当记者问及伊朗的高浓缩铀库存时，赫格塞斯表示希望德黑兰能够“自愿”将其移交给华盛顿。他警告说，如果伊朗不这样做，美国仍可能试图武力夺取这些物资。

“它被埋在地下，我们正在监视它，我们确切地知道他们拥有什么，”赫格塞斯说。

“他们会自愿给我们，”他继续说道。“或者，如果我们必须自己做些别的——就像我们在《午夜铁锤》里做的那样——我们会保留这个机会。”

Tanya Noury 是《军事时报》和《防务新闻》的记者，她的报道主要集中在白宫和五角大楼。