WASHINGTON, March 1. /TASS/. United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the United States didn't start the conflict with Iran, but will finish it.
"We will not tolerate powerful missiles targeting the American people. Those missiles will be destroyed, along with Iran’s missile production. The Iranian navy will be destroyed. And, as President Trump has said his entire life, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. The United States did not start this conflict, but we will finish it. If you kill or threaten Americans anywhere in the world — as Iran has — then we will hunt you down, and we will kill you," he wrote on X social network.
The US and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on Saturday. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, have been hit. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, elite units of the Iranian Armed Forces) announced a large-scale retaliatory operation. There were reports of missiles and drones being launched from Iran, and air-raid alert sirens sounded in the Tel Aviv area. According to the Mehr news agency, US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were also targeted. Regional countries are closing their airspace, and airlines are suspending flights. Iran's state television reported that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed in an attack on his residence on the morning of February 28, and the country declared a 40-day mourning.