US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asserted that the US and Israel are about to have complete “uncontested” control of Iranian airspace during operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion, during a statement at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

“In under a week, the two most powerful air forces in the world (US and Israel) will have complete control over Iranian skies – uncontested airspace,” he said.

“I hope all the folks watching understand what this means. It means we will fly all day, all night, finding, fixing, and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military, finding and finishing their leaders and their military leaders,” he continued.

It also means the USAF and IAF will be able to “Fly over Tehran, over the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, over Iranian leaders looking up and seeing only us every minute of every day until we decide it’s over, and Iran will be able to do nothing about it,” Hegseth added.

“B-2s, B-52s, B-1s, Predator drones, fighters, controlling the skies, picking targets, death and destruction from the sky all day long,” he continued.

After achieving “complete control of the skies, the US will be using 500lb, 1,000lb, and 2,000lb, GPS and laser-guided precision gravity bombs of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile,” Hegseth added.

The combination of US and Israeli intelligence and combat power will “control Iran soon,” Hegseth continued.

Iran will still be “able to launch missiles and one-way drones at civilian targets, and their proxies will attempt to attack embassies, bases, and soft targets,” as the regime is “terrorists who need to target civilians because they cannot fight toe-to-toe,” he said.

However, the US and Israel will “find them and kill them,” he noted.

“Iran will never possess a nuclear bomb, not on our watch, not ever,” the defense secretary asserted.

“This is why Trump’s moral clarity on Iran today is so vital. Unlike in the past, where vague redlines and endless negotiations let Iran fund terror and inch slightly towards a nuclear bomb, Trump sees the threat plainly and acts decisively,” he added.

There is “no more letting Tehran play for time while our people pay the price. Trump’s leadership ensures that we finish what we start and protect our soldiers by crushing the enemy before they can strike again,” he stated.

The US is using bold and precise rules of engagement to unleash its military power, and not shackle it, Hegseth went on, “This was not meant to be a fair fight, and it isn’t. We are punching them while they are down, which is exactly how it should be.”

He also commented on how the US’s Operation Epic Fury has delivered twice the firepower of Operation Shock and Awe against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq in 2003, and Israel’s Operation Roaring Lion has included seven times the intensity of June’s Operation Rising Lion.

“We are accelerating, not decelerating. Iran’s capabilities are evaporating by the hour while US strength grows fiercer, smarter, and more dominant,” Hegseth said. “America is winning, decisively, and without mercy.”

Iran can no longer launch the same number of ballistic missiles it could previously, Hegseth noted, adding that the US and regional allies’ air defense capabilities have “plenty of runway.”

“We can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need to. We set the terms.”

“You may not see much as the IRGC shut off the internet, blinding their own people on purpose, just like they killed their own people on purpose. Much has been made of the volume of missiles Iran was able to shoot in the first few days, and sadly, a few got through and killed six of our best. We will avenge them,” Hegseth said.

Iran’s senior leaders are dead, and the governing council that might have elected a successor to former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is “dead, missing, or cowering in bunkers too terrified to occupy the same room,” he continued.

Iran’s air force is “no more,” and its navy “rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” including the sinking of the navy’s prize ship, the Soleimani, named after IRGC – Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in Baghdad at the end of Trump’s first administration in January 2020.

Further, the US sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, “that thought it was safe in international waters, was instead sunk by a torpedo – quiet death,” he stated.

Further, the leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate Trump has been “hunted down and killed. Iran tried to kill Trump, and Trump got the last laugh,” Hegseth said.

The US, under President Donald Trump’s command, launched Operation Epic Fury “just four days ago, which means people need to remember two things,” according to Hegseth.

Firstly, it means that metrics are shifting, the dust is settling, and more forces are arriving in the Middle East. It is very early, and Trump has said that the administration will take all the time it needs to make sure it succeeds, Hegseth said.

Secondly, it has only been four days, and the “results have been incredible – historic really – only the US could lead this,” Hegseth continued.

“But when you add the IDF, a devastatingly capable force, the combination is sheer destruction for our radical Islamist Iranian adversaries. They are toast and they know it, or at least soon enough, they will know it,” Hegseth said, adding that the US and Israel have “only just begun to hunt, dismantle, demoralize, destroy, and defeat” Iran’s capabilities.

Hegseth also addressed Israel during his speech.

“Your mission is being executed with unmatched skill and iron determination. Fighting shoulder to shoulder with such a capable ally is a true force multiplier and a breath of fresh air,” Hegseth said.

“We salute your courage and your contribution,” he added.

In four days, the US has only just begun to fight, but it fights to win, and is doing so with Operation Epic Fury, he said.

Hegseth also commented on the defensive preparations that the US took before launching Operation Epic Fury.

He noted that the military’s offensive operations are “unstoppable,” and its defensive efforts are “unprecedented.”

“We have put the protection of troops ahead of everything else. Before we publicly built up our offensive combat power, we quietly ensured that our defensive posture and power were in place,” he said.

“As we built it up, we moved a vast majority of US troops, over 90%, out of the range of Iranian fire,” he announced.

The US’s defensive shield is formidable, with the most sophisticated air and missile defense network ever fielded, intercepting and vaporizing thousands of Iranian missiles and drones, and protecting tens of thousands of American and allied lives, the secretary said.

The secretary noted that Trump told German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that Iran negotiated in bad faith, was stalling, scheming, and preparing to strike, and we acted decisively to protect our people, our interests, and our allies, he said.

“Trump took bold action, putting America First, and taking the action that people elected him to execute,” he stated.