‘Stop’: Pete Hegseth scolds media over ‘endless’ war, but says boots on the ground a possibility

U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth is scolding media outlets, the political left, and others who are fretting that the war in Iran will be “endless,” like other military interventions by the U.S., in places like Iran and Afghanistan, over the years.

“To the media outlets and political left screaming, ‘endless wars,’ stop. This is not Iraq, this is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this president,” he said at a Pentagon briefing.

“This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission: destroy the missile threat, destroy the navy, no nukes,” he said of Operation Epic Fury.

Over the weekend, a joint operation of the United States and Israel destroyed much of the leadership of the rogue Islamic regime that has been running Iran, killing its own people, and funding terror around the globe, for more than 40 years.

The strikes are to continue until Iran’s missile threat is gone, its navy no longer functions, and it cannot threaten the world with nuclear weapons, officials have said.

But it doesn’t mean, Hegseth said, that America will not at some point have boots on the ground there.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth told the media to stop calling U.S. operations in Iran the start of another endless war.

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A report at the Daily Signal said Hegseth confirmed, “This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it.”

He said, “We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump we are finishing it. Their war on Americans has become our retribution against their ayatollah.”

Hegseth insists the Iran conflict will not be “endless” and declares, “We did not start this war.”

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In a report at the Daily Caller News Foundation, he also confirmed that U.S. troops could, under certain circumstances, be dispatched.

Hegseth was asked, “First, are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran?”

He said, “No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. I think it’s one of those fallacies for a long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our enemies, by the way, here’s exactly what we’ll do. Here’s exactly how long we’ll go. Here’s exactly how far we’ll go. Here’s what we’re willing to do and not do. It’s foolishness. And so President Trump ensures that our enemies understand we’ll go as far as we need to go to advanced American interests. But we’re not dumb about it.”

He said America’s military is there to “win.”

“You don’t have to roll two hundred thousand people in there and stay for 20 years. We’ve proven that you can achieve objectives that advance American interests without being foolish about it. Now, will we be bold about it? Are we willing to be decisive about it? Do we put months and months of planning into what kind of effects we want to achieve? Absolutely.”

But he said the Trump administration isn’t in the mode of telling reporters, telling “the enemy, anybody,” what will be done.

Officials in the government have estimated that the operation in Iran is going to be a matter of weeks.