Pentagon says US doesn’t want to pursue war with Iran after bombing 3 of its nuclear sites

WASHINGTON AP Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned Sunday that America does not seek war with Iran in the aftermath of a surprise attack overnight on three of that country s nuclear sites while Vice President JD Vance noted the strikes have given Tehran a renewed chance of negotiating with Washington The mission called Operation Midnight Hammer involved decoys and deception and met with no Iranian resistance Hegseth and Air Force Gen Dan Caine chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff reported at a Pentagon news conference This mission was not and has not been about regime change Hegseth added Caine reported the goal of the operation destroying nuclear sites in Fordo Natanz and Isfahan had been achieved Final battle damage will take particular time but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction Caine commented Vance declared in a television interview that while he would not discuss sensitive intelligence about what we ve seen on the ground he felt very confident that we ve substantially delayed their enhancement of a nuclear weapon Pressed further he narrated NBC s Meet the Press that I think that we have really pushed their scheme back by a very long time I think that it s going to be multiple several years before the Iranians are able to develop a nuclear weapon The vice president commented the U S had negotiated aggressively with Iran to try to find a peaceful settlement and that Trump made his decision after assessing the Iranians were not acting in good faith I in fact think it provides an opportunity to reset this relationship reset these negotiations and get us in a place where Iran can decide not to be a threat to its neighbors not to a threat to the United States and if they re willing to do that the United States is all ears Vance noted He mentioned it would make sense for Iran to come to the negotiating table and give up their nuclear weapons project over the long term If they re willing to do that they re going to find a willing partner in the United States of America he revealed describing a achievable chance of a reset for Tehran Much of the world is absorbing the consequences of the strikes and the jeopardy that they could lead to more fighting across the Middle East after the United States inserted itself into the war between Israel and Iran Airstrikes starting on June by Israel that targeted Iran s nuclear facilities and generals prompted retaliation from Iran While U S bureaucrats urged for caution and stressed that only nuclear sites were targeted by Washington Iran criticized the actions as a violation of its sovereignty and international law Iran s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi declared Sunday that Washington was fully responsible for whatever actions Tehran may take in response They crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities he reported at a news conference in Turkey I don t know how much room is left for diplomacy Both Russia and China condemned the U S attack Araghchi announced he would advance to Moscow later Sunday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin A Turkish Foreign Ministry report warned about the menace of the conflict spreading beyond the Middle East to a global level The Pentagon briefing did not provide any new details about Iran s nuclear capabilities Hegseth revealed the timeline was the development of a schedule set by President Donald Trump for talks with Iran about its nuclear ambitions Iran located out that when Trump says days that he seeks peace and negotiation he means days of peace and negotiation Hegseth stated Otherwise that nuclear activity that new nuclear capability will not exist He meant it That message was complicated as the White House had suggested last Thursday that Trump could take as much as two weeks to determine whether to strike Iran or continue to pursue negotiations But the U S benefited from Iran s weakened air defenses as it was able to conduct the attacks without resistance from Iran Iran s fighters did not fly and it appears that Iran s surface to air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission Caine announced Hegseth mentioned that a choice to move a number of B- bombers from their base in Missouri earlier Saturday was meant to be a decoy to throw off Iranians He added that the U S used other methods of deception as well deploying fighters to protect the B- bombers that dropped bunker-buster bombs on Iran s site at Fordo The strikes occurred Saturday between pm and pm in Washington or roughly am on Sunday in Iran