BREAKING: Pete Hegseth says ‘this mission has not been about regime change’

A reporter asked, "So is regime change off the table?" The two were asked. "Mr. Secretary and to the chairman, you said the battle damage assessment is still ongoing. But do you believe that some nuclear capability in Iran remains?"

"This mission was not has not been about regime change," Hegseth said. "The President authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self defense of our troops and our ally Israel."

Hegseth spoke about President Trump's commitment to peace, saying "he was fully committed to the peace process. He wanted a negotiated outcome. Gave Iran every single opportunity, and unfortunately, was met by stonewalling, which is why he gave them plenty of time to continue to come to the table and give up enrichment, give up the nuclear program. But there was a, I won't say, the particular moment. There was certainly a moment in time where he realized that it had to be a certain action taken in order to minimize the threat to us and our troops."

Reporters also had concerns about the potential for strikes of US military bases in the region. "Iran and North Korea are cooperating on nuclear and missile development. Do you think there is a possibility that Iran North Korea and other forces such as China, will join forces to retaliate against the United States?" The two men were asked.

"Unfortunately," Hegseth said, "because of the policies under the previous administration, we drove those countries together, and ultimately that creates a challenging environment for this particular operation. The focus is on Iran and Iranian nuclear capabilities. That's our focus here— not just say that they can't have them, but President Trump has said, over 20 years, frankly, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and ultimately he decided this is the moment, given their stonewalling, when direct military action had to be taken to prevent that from happening."

"As the President has directed," Hegseth said, "has made clear, this is most certainly not open ended. It doesn't mean it limits our ability to respond. We will respond if necessary. The most powerful military in the world is postured and prepared to defend our people, but what the President gave us, as I said, was a focused, powerful and clear mission on the destruction of Iranian nuclear capabilities.

"Those were the targets. That's what was struck. That was overwhelming. That's what was overwhelming. That's what the Iranian regime needs to understand. As the President put it out, put out last night, he wants peace. There needs to be a negotiated settlement here. We ultimately demonstrated that Iran cannot have a nuclear capability. That is a very clear mission set on this operation," he said.