{"id":103381,"date":"2026-04-08T14:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/2026\/04\/08\/iran-begged-for-this-ceasefire-us-war-secretary-pete-hegseth-hails-victory-over-iran\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:03:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:03:53","slug":"iran-begged-for-this-ceasefire-us-war-secretary-pete-hegseth-hails-victory-over-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/2026\/04\/08\/iran-begged-for-this-ceasefire-us-war-secretary-pete-hegseth-hails-victory-over-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Iran begged for this ceasefire&#8217;: US war secretary Pete Hegseth hails &#8216;victory&#8217; over Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9\" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-130115490,imgsize-46500,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/130115490.jpg\" alt=\"'Iran begged for this ceasefire': US war secretary Pete Hegseth hails 'victory' over Iran\" title=\"(Photo credit: AP)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>US secretary of war <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/pete-hegseth\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Pete Hegseth<\/a> on Wednesday claimed that Iran &#8220;begged for ceasefire&#8221; after the Operation Epic Fury &#8220;decimated their military and rendered it&#8217;s combat-ineffective.&#8221;<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"3\"\/>Addressing a press briefing, Hegseth credited US President Donald Trump for shaping the moment. <!-- -->&#8220;&#8230;President Trump forged this moment. Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it.<!-- -->..Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield&#8230;&#8221; he said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>&#8220;Operation Epic Fury decimated Iran&#8217;s military and rendered it combat-ineffective for years to come&#8230;,&#8221; he added describing the operation as a major strategic success.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/>The Pentagon chief also issued a strong warning over Iran\u2019s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, saying the US would ensure it is secured, by force if necessary. <!-- -->While he did not elaborate on how this would be achieved, he indicated that Washington was closely monitoring the situation.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"17\"\/>&#8220;We&#8217;re watching it. We know what they have, and they will give it up, and we&#8217;ll get it, and we&#8217;ll take it. If we have to, we can do it in any, any means necessary,&#8221; Hegseth said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"19\"\/> &#8220;They&#8217;ll give it to us voluntarily, we&#8217;ll get it, we&#8217;ll take it, we&#8217;ll take it out, or if we have to do something else ourselves, like we did Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity,&#8221; he added.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>Hegseth\u2019s remarks signal a continued hardline stance by Washington, with the US keeping the option of additional strikes on the table if its demands are not met.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>The Pentagon chief&#8217;s comments came after Trump, who had earlier warned of wiping out Iran\u2019s &#8220;whole civilization,&#8221; shifted tone and announced a ceasefire with Tehran, describing it as a &#8220;total and complete victory&#8221; following 38 days of Operation Epic Fury.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"27\"\/>However, Tehran presented a contrasting narrative. The Islamic Republic, led by Mojtaba Khamenei, also claimed victory, citing Washington\u2019s acceptance of its 10-point proposal as evidence of both battlefield and diplomatic success.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"29\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/world\/us\/iran-begged-for-this-ceasefire-us-war-secretary-pete-hegseth-hails-victory-over-iran\/articleshow\/130115277.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US secretary of war Pete Hegseth on Wednesday claimed that Iran &#8220;begged for ceasefire&#8221; after the Operation Epic Fury &#8220;decimated their military and rendered it&#8217;s combat-ineffective.&#8221;Addressing a press briefing, Hegseth&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/130115490.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sochtimes.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}