Head of the Pentagon claims to have achieved a "regime change" in Iran following U.S. military offensive.

The United States Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, stated this Monday that, although the offensive against Iran "is not a regime change war," it is true that "the regime has changed and the world is better for it," following the death of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the military operation called 'Epic Fury'.

At a press conference at the Pentagon, Hegseth described the operation—initiated on Saturday—as "the most lethal, most complex, and most precise in history." He emphasized that the attacks have been carried out "with precision, overwhelmingly," and maintained that as the conflict progresses, the military capabilities of the United States "are strengthening" while those of Iran "are weakening."

“From start to finish, we set the terms of this war. Our ambitions are not utopian. They are realistic,” declared the Pentagon chief, according to EFE. He added that President Trump and his cabinet previously sought a diplomatic solution, but accused Tehran of prolonging the talks to "buy time and reload their missile arsenals."

Hegseth insisted that the operation will not be “endless” and distinguished it from past conflicts like Iraq. “This operation is a clear, devastating, and decisive mission: to destroy the missile threat, to destroy the navy, no nuclear weapons,” he stated.

For his part, the Chief of the Joint Staff, General Dan Caine, warned that the operations "will take some time" and will require "hard and difficult work." He confirmed that 57 continuous hours of military actions have already passed, which he described as the "initial phase" of the operation.

Caine detailed that the deployment includes thousands of personnel from all branches of the Armed Forces, hundreds of advanced fourth and fifth-generation fighters, dozens of tanker aircraft, and the strike groups of the Ford and Lincoln aircraft carriers.

The Department of Defense also confirmed the death of a fourth American military member due to injuries sustained during the initial attacks of 'Epic Fury'.