US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine held a briefing after Trump agrees to two-week ceasefire with Iran. Keynotes:

● US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

Iran has been a threat for 47 years. No longer. Not on our watch. Trump made history. We just achived a decisive military victory.

Trump had the power to cripple Iran’s entire economy in minutes. But he chose mercy.

They know this agreement means they will never, ever possess a nuclear weapon. Under the terms, any nuclear material they should not have will be removed - any material. Trump has been clear from the beginning: there will be no Iranian nuclear weapons. Period. Full stop.

The Iranians were humiliated and demoralized. We control their fate, not the other way around. That’s why they came to the table.

Iran begged for this ceasefire - and we all know it.

We had some military targets on Kharg, which was a signal. They can’t defend it, and so the Iranians ultimately understood their position, their future. Their ability to produce and generate power to fuel their regime was in our hands. It was in President Trump’s hands. That’s why they came to the table. He ultimately made clear: we can take it all from you. Your ability to export energy can be taken away, and the United States military has the ability to strike those targets with impunity. That type of pressure is what brought them to the point where they effectively said, “Okay. We want to cut this deal.”

The more Iran moves forces and the more they reposition, the more easily targetable they become for us right now. Remember, we’re able to look. We’re able to see. We’re able to sense. We know where they are. So if they try to pre-position, they’re just creating more ripe military targets for us to strike.

I would love to see the Iranian people take advantage of this opportunity. They have been oppressed by the previous regime, and they may now have a new opportunity with this regime. That remains to be seen. That was not our objective in this effort.

● Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine

A ceasefire is a pause, and the Joint Force remains ready if ordered or called upon to resume combat operations.

The US Joint Forces struck more than 13,000 targets, including more than 4,000 dynamic targets that emerged on the battlefield and were immediately addressed.

CENTCOM forces destroyed approximately 80% of Iran’s air defense systems, striking more than 1,500 air defense targets, more than 450 ballistic missile storage facilities, and 800 one-way attack drone storage facilities. We destroyed more than 2,000 command-and-control nodes and degrading their ability to target U.S. and friendly forces.

We assess that we’ve sunk more than 90% of their regular fleet. 150 ships are at the bottom of the ocean, along with half of the IRGC Navy’s small attack boats. 700 strikes were carried out against naval mine targets, and we assess that we destroyed more than 95% of their naval mines. And perhaps most importantly, we’ve destroyed Iran’s defense industrial base.

We attacked approximately 90% of their weapons factories. Every factory that produced Shahed one-way attack drones and the guidance systems that go into those drones was struck.

Their missile defense industrial base was shattered, with more than 80% of their missile facilities gone, as well as their solid rocket motor production capability.

It will take years for Iran to rebuild any major surface combatants, as more than 20 naval production and fabrication facilities have been damaged or destroyed.

Nearly 80% of Iran’s nuclear industrial base was hit.

The Joint Force flew more than 10,000 missions, including 62 bomber missions. Each of these missions lasted more than 30 hours, and we did that 18 times. No other military in the world can do that.

We have thus far intercepted 1,700 ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones, defending our forces, our partners, and the civilian population, and we remain ready to do so should the need arise.

Full briefing attached

A White House official says that the 10-point peace plan that Iran publicly released differs from the plan that US President Trump said was a workable basis on which to negotiate.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is expected to clarify this in today's press briefing.

U.S. President Donald Trump: Lebanon is not included in the deal because of Hezbollah. They were not included in the deal. That'll get taken care of too. It's alright.

Iran has told mediators its participation in ceasefire talks is conditional if it includes Lebanon, and threatened to continue attacks on neighbouring countries if Israel's attacks on Lebanon continue.

Two field sources from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad noted that there are indications of an Israeli escalation in Gaza, but without extensive ground operations.

According to them, alertness among the factions has been increased.

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An Israeli soldier was killed during a clash with Hezbollah gunmen in southern Lebanon yesterday, the military announces.

He is

Staff Sergeant Touvel Yosef Lifshiz, aged 20, from Beit She'an, a soldier from the 13th Battalion, Golani Brigade.
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The Golani soldiers identified several Hezbollah operatives in their area of operations on Tuesday afternoon. During an exchange of fire, Lifshiz was killed, an officer was seriously wounded, and four other troops were injured lightly and moderately.

The troops are working to locate and eliminate the Hezbollah operatives.

Lifshiz is the 12th soldier to be killed amid the renewed fighting against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt held a press briefing on Iran. Keynotes:

● Before Operation Epic Fury, the Iranian air force would fly 30–100 flights per day; today, that number is zero.

● The Iranians originally put forward a 10-point plan that was fundamentally unserious and completely unacceptable. It was literally thrown in the garbage by President Trump and his negotiating team. Many outlets have falsely reported that this plan was acceptable to the United States. That is not true.

With the president’s deadline fast approaching and the U.S. military decimating Iran with each passing hour, the regime acknowledged reality to the negotiating team. They then put forward a more reasonable, entirely different, and condensed plan. President Trump and his team determined that this new, modified plan was a workable basis for negotiations, to be aligned with our own 15-point proposal.

● The president’s red lines - namely, the end of Iranian enrichment in Iran, have not changed. The idea that President Trump would ever accept an Iranian wish list as a deal is completely absurd.

● On reports that Strait of Hormuz was closed again:

With respect to the initial reporting from Iranian state media, the president was made aware of those reports before I came to the podium. That position is completely unacceptable. Again, this is a case where what they are saying publicly differs from what they are saying privately. We have seen an uptick in traffic in the Strait today, and I will reiterate the president’s expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz be reopened immediately, quickly, and safely. That is his expectation. It has been relayed to him privately that what is being reported publicly is false.

● Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire, that has been communicated to all parties involved.

● Trump is dispatching his negotiating team, led by the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Mr. Kushner, to Islamabad for talks this weekend. The first round of those talks will take place on Saturday morning, local time, and we look forward to those in-person meetings.

● Reporter: Has Iran given the administration any indication that it would simply turn over its highly enriched uranium?

Leavitt: They have. Yes.

● Reporter: What was your understanding of what Trump meant when he said this civilization is going to be eliminated?

Leavitt: I think it was a very, very strong threat from the president of the United States, one that led the Iranian regime to cave and ask for a ceasefire, and to agree to reopening the Strait of Hormuz. It was a strong threat that produced results. And as the Secretary of War stated at the Pentagon this morning, it was not an empty threat by any means. The Pentagon had a target list ready to be executed at 8 p.m. last night.

● Reporter: Can you tell me that the United States is still considering withdrawing from NATO? Is that still a possibility?

Leavitt: It’s something the president has discussed, and I think it’s something he will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary General Rutte. You may hear more directly from him.

Full briefing attached