Hegseth, Attacking Press, Declares Victory Is Near Amid Ongoing Iran Conflict

The new Iranian leader is “wounded and likely disfigured,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday, describing the ongoing war as a sure and decisive victory.

Speaking hours after four American service members died in Iraq — with another two still missing in a plane crash — Hegseth spent the bulk of his prepared comments attacking the press for publishing stories he called “fake news” while publicly endorsing a conservative media mogul’s upcoming takeover of CNN.

Joined by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine in the Pentagon briefing room, Hegseth portrayed the ongoing war as contained, even as Iranian attacks hit civilian energy production sites and oil tankers across the Gulf region and 11 U.S. and one French service member have died in the conflict.

Another four American crew members died Thursday when their KC-135 aerial refueling plane supporting the war efforts collided with another aircraft and crashed in western Iraq. More than 140 U.S. troops have been wounded in the conflict.

Iranian attacks are diminishing, Hegseth said, with Iran’s ballistic missile fire having decreased by 90 percent since the opening days of the war last month. He said Tehran's one-way attack drone usage was down 95 percent.

"Bottom line up front for the world to hear — and the press to actually admit — that the United States is decimating the radical Iranian regime's military," the former Fox morning show host said in his combative opening remarks, which focused most on his frustration with media reports.

He singled out CNN, referencing the Paramount CEO who recently won the bid to take over the network as part of a larger deal. “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better," he said.

The Ellison family — helmed by tech billionaire Larry Ellison — are allies of President Donald Trump.

Hegseth discounted any hard evidence of Iran laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz despite U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey suggesting Thursday that “the Iranians may have started mining in the Strait.”

Commercial shipping through the strait has all but ceased. Iranian drones have also already hit several tankers, prompting the cost of oil to rise across the globe. But Hegseth said the Pentagon has "been dealing with it" and disputed any need to worry.

Hegseth also said the Iranian defense industry has been hit hard, with “production lines, their military plants, their defense innovation centers” hit and “Iran’s leadership is in no better shape."

“Desperate and hiding, they’ve gone underground, cowering — that’s what rats do,” he said.

While Caine focused his comments on praising the work of individual service members, the two men offered little new information on the state of the conflict, or how the war will end. The president and the Trump administration have given mixed signals about the length of the war and what an end to the fighting might actually look like.

Hegseth instead described what won’t happen. “Mission creep, or expansive missions, or prolonged timelines, or democracy building or nation building, you name it, has not been part of what President Trump wants us to be involved in,” he said.

For the second press conference in a row, Hegseth invoked his faith, telling reporters, “I serve God, the troops, the country, the Constitution and the President of the United States, and answer only to those.”