"Last night," Hegseth began, "on President Trump's orders, US Central Command conducted a precision strike in the middle of the night against three nuclear facilities in Iran: Fordow, Natanz andEsfahan in order to destroy or severely degrade Iran's nuclear program.
"And as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs will demonstrate, it was an incredible and overwhelming success. The order we received from our Commander-in-Chief was focused. It was powerful, and it was clear we devastated the Iranian nuclear program," he continued.
"But it's worth noting," he continued, "the operation did not target Iranian troops and the Iranian people. For the entirety of his time in office, President Trump has consistently stated for over 10 years that Iran must not get a nuclear weapon— full stop.
"Thanks to President Trump's bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace through strength, Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated. Many presidents have dreamed of delivering the final blow to Iran's nuclear program, and none could until President Trump.
"The operation President Trump planned was bold and it was brilliant, showing the world that American deterrence is back. When this President speaks, the world should listen and the US military, we can back it up. The most powerful military the world has ever known. No other country on planet Earth could have conducted the operation that the chairman is going to outline this morning, not even close, just like Soleimani found out in the first term, Iran found out when POTUS says 60 days that he seeks peace and negotiation, he means 60 days of peace and negotiation otherwise that nuclear program, that nuclear capability, will not exist, he meant it.
"This is not the previous administration. The President Trump said, 'No nukes.' He seeks peace, and Iran should take that path. He sent out a truth last night, saying this, any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight, signed the President of the United States, Donald J Trump, Iran, would be smart to heed those words. He said it before, and he means it," Hegseth said.
He thanked the troops involved and said that the this was "a plan that took months and weeks of positioning and preparation so that we could be ready when the President of the United States called. It took a great deal of precision. It involved misdirection and the highest of operational security."
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine spoke about the operation, called Operation Midnight Hammer.
Caine walked through the operational details, saying that throughout the misison, the US military forces "retained the element of surprise."
"This operation was designed to severely degrade Iran's nuclear weapons infrastructure. It was planned and executed across multiple domains and theaters with coordination that reflects our ability to project power globally with speed and precision at the time and place of our nation's choosing. This was a highly classified mission with very few people in Washington knowing the timing or nature of this plan," Caine said, before going into the details of the attack.
