President Donald Trump’s threat against Iran that a “whole civilization will die tonight” was not an idle one.
That’s according to War Secretary Pete Hegseth Wednesday morning, a day after the threat was to be carried out.
“We had a target set, locked and loaded, of infrastructure, bridges, power plants. Remember, this is a terror regime. The military regime used all of these things for dual use, to fund their military to fund their their terror campaigns,” Hegseth said in the Wednesday morning briefing. “We had a lot of legitimate targets. They knew exactly the scope of what we were capable of.”
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Trump’s threat of the attacks on Iranian infrastructure led to concerns about possible war crimes. Many Democratic lawmakers called for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
Some Republicans also disagreed with the president’s threat, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas).
Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks. In exchange, the U.S. and Israeli militaries would stop attacks on Iran.
“The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East,” the president wrote on Truth Social Tuesday evening.
Hegseth added Wednesday morning the U.S. military had its sights set on Kharg Island and argued that Iran “understood” that its ability to generate power, to “fuel their terrorist regime” was in Trump’s hands, per The Hill.
“That’s why they came to the table. He ultimately said, we can take it all from you. Your ability to export energy will be taken away, and the United States military has the ability to strike those things with impunity,” Hegseth told reporters. “That type of threat is what brought them to the place where they effectively say, ‘Hey, okay, we want to cut this deal.’”
