Iran’s Top Leaders Are Dead, Air Force And Navy Destroyed, US War Chief

The United States Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has declared that Iran’s top leadership has been wiped out, boasting that American and Israeli forces are tightening their grip on the country’s airspace less than a week after hostilities began.

Speaking at a joint briefing alongside U.S. Air Force General Dan Caine, Hegseth painted a picture of total military collapse inside Iran.

“Iran’s senior leaders are dead. The so-called governing council that might have selected a successor, dead, missing, or cowering in bunkers, too terrified to even occupy the same room,” Hegseth said.

“Senior generals, mid-level officers, enlisted ranks, they can’t talk or communicate, let alone mount a coordinated and sustained offensive. That’s not great for morale.”

Hegseth claimed that Iran’s military infrastructure has been devastated beyond repair.

“The Iranian Air Force is no more. Built for 1996, destroyed in 2026,” he said.

“The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective.”

He further stated that U.S. and Israeli forces expect to have “complete control of Iranian skies” within days, adding that reinforcements are already on their way.

“More forces are arriving,” he said, warning that Washington and Tel Aviv were “just getting started.”

According to him, the United States will deploy what he described as an “unlimited stockpile of precision gravity bombs” as the campaign escalates.

General Caine disclosed that the U.S. is deliberately targeting Iran’s ballistic missile infrastructure to prevent threats to American troops and regional allies.

“The U.S. is targeting Iran’s ballistic missile system to prevent them from threatening US forces and partners in the region,” Caine said.

He added that American forces are also focused on destroying Iran’s naval capability to ensure Tehran cannot “rapidly rebuild or reconstitute its combat capability.”

“The next step is to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory and create additional freedom of manoeuvre for U.S. forces,” he stated.

Caine revealed that the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has already shifted tactics by the fourth day of the war.

“CENTCOM is now shifting, on day four already, from large deliberate strike packages using stand-off munitions at range outside an enemy’s ability to shoot at us, now into stand-in precision strikes overhead Iran,” he said.

Despite launching attacks while diplomatic negotiations were reportedly ongoing, Hegseth accused Tehran of deceit.

He claimed Iran had been “negotiating in bad faith” while “scheming and preparing” attacks, though he did not provide evidence to support the allegation.

When questioned about a Saturday strike on an Iranian girls’ school that reportedly killed more than 160 people, Hegseth said Washington was “investigating” the incident.

The escalating rhetoric and expansion of U.S.-led strikes signal a widening conflict that could destabilise the broader Middle East, as Washington and Israel intensify their military campaign against Tehran.