Today's Edition
Washington (AFP)
The US defense chief said on Sunday that strikes ordered by President Donald Trump overnight had "devastated" Iran's nuclear program and urged Iranian leaders to seek peace to avoid further attacks.
"We devastated the Iranian nuclear program," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing, adding that the operation "did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people."
Trump "seeks peace, and Iran should take that path," Hegseth said.
The US military operation targeting key Iranian nuclear sites overnight was codenamed "Operation Midnight Hammer," the Pentagon has said.
The unprecedented operation was a complex, high-risk mission, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine told journalists at the Pentagon on Sunday.
It was the first-ever combat use of massive GBU-57 bunker-busting bombs, he said.
