US Defence Secretary Hegseth pledges strikes on ‘key facilities’ in Iran

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkUS Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth salutes during a ceremony to mark the D-Day landings on June 6 [Jeremias Gonzalez/AP Photo]By Al Jazeera StaffPublished On 10 Jun 202610 Jun 2026Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed that the United States is preparing to launch strikes on “key facilities” in Iran, framing the attacks as part of the ongoing negotiations for a permanent ceasefire.Hegseth spoke to reporters on Wednesday in Tampa, Florida, as he left the headquarters for the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the military apparatus that oversees operations in the Middle East and parts of Asia.His remarks echoed the escalating rhetoric of Republican President Donald Trump, who warned earlier that Iran would “have to pay the price” for taking too long with the negotiations.“ CENTCOM — Central Command — will be busy tonight because President Trump said we will be hitting Iran hard, and we will be,” Hegseth said.He explained that he had just reviewed the plans for Wednesday night’s attack with Admiral Bradley Cooper, CENTCOM’s commander.“ Those strikes that’ll happen tonight will be strong. They will be clear,” said Hegseth, who then suggested they may continue into a second day. “If they have to happen tomorrow night, they will be strong, and they will be clear.”CENTCOM followed Hegseth’s statement with a social media post, announcing “additional self-defence strikes” at 5:15pm US Eastern time (21:00 GMT).“The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression,” it wrote.Wednesday’s attack will mark the second straight day of US attacks against Iran, fracturing the fragile truce struck on April 8.The US has been at war with Iran since February 28, when the Trump administration joined Israel in an unprovoked attack on the country.Both Israel and the US have argued that the attack was necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, though Tehran has long denied seeking one.But the Trump administration has offered contradicting rationales for the war in the months since it began.At one point, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that the US acted “pre-emptively” because it “knew that there was going to be an Israeli action” and it wanted to head off retaliation. Rubio has since walked back those remarks.Hegseth on Wednesday credited the upcoming strikes to frustration with Iran’s negotiating tactics.“ As President Trump said, they’ve been tap-tap-tapping. You can see when someone’s trying to tap-tap-tap on a deal,” he said. “Instead, they’re going to have tap, tap, tap bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the United States of America.”Since a temporary ceasefire was announced on April 8, much of the most intense fighting between the US and Iran has been paused.But this week’s escalation began when an AH-64 Apache helicopter was downed near the Strait of Hormuz overnight on Monday.Trump on Tuesday blamed Iran for the helicopter’s crash. Though no US service members were hurt, he said the US “must, of necessity, respond to this attack”.In announcing a second round of attacks, Hegseth denied that the US sought to resume full-scale fighting. He instead framed the offensive as a means of kick-starting the stalled negotiations with Iran.“That’s not because we want to restart anything we don’t have to restart,” Hegseth said of Wednesday night’s attack. “It’s because the War Department is prepared to set the terms to ensure that we get the kind of deal President Trump expects.”The two sides have differed over issues like the fate of Iran’s nuclear programme and whether Iran would receive sanctions relief.Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran’s bridges and energy infrastructure, at one point warning that “a whole civilization will die” as a result of US attacks.Those comments have prompted human rights concerns. Intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure can be considered a war crime, and critics compared Trump’s threats against Iranian “civilisation” to genocidal remarks.Reporters confronted Hegseth with those concerns on Wednesday.“You just mentioned you’re going to plan to hit them and strike them hard tonight,” one reporter asked. “If the response is in hitting bridges, electrical infrastructure, how would that not be a war crime, potentially targeting civilian infrastructure?”Hegseth dismissed the question as “disingenuous” and accused the reporter of “impugning the motives” of the US military. But he did not rule out that civilian infrastructure would be struck as part of Wednesday’s attacks.