by Sharon Rondeau
(Jun. 26, 2025) — Just after 8:00 a.m. EDT, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth opened a press conference at the Pentagon by reporting his trip to a NATO summit Wednesday as historic given President Trump’s leadership.
He additionally praised the president for ordering “decisive military action” to destroy Iran’s nuclear sites on June 21 and bring an end to the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, between whom a tenuous ceasefire has held for the last two days.
Hegseth said a “preliminary” DIA report released to CNN was “leaked because someone had an agenda” and noted the it was written with “low confidence.”
He said the IAEA adjudged the damage done to the sites as
The UN Atomic Agency said the U.S. strikes “caused enormous damage to Iran nuclear sites,” Hegseth read from a report.
He said the DIA report was disseminated by the press to “spin it every way they can” to sow doubt in the minds of Americans. “There are so many aspects of what our brave men and women did…you people are trying to leak and spin…it was irresponsible,” Hegseth said.
The media’s purpose, he said, was to “try to make the president look bad.”
“How about we celebrate” the successful operation and America’s strength, Hegseth suggested.
“This is an historically successful attack” which “gives us a chance to have peace,” he said. “No other president has actually had the courage” to carry it out, he said.
At 8:14 a.m., Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine began his remarks.
The attack was precipitated by intelligence received after the strikes took place regarding Iran’s attempt at retaliation, Caine said. “Roughly 44 American soldiers responsible for defending the entire base” in Qatar, Caine said, consisting of young soldiers, the “oldest” of whom is 28 years old and the youngest of whom is 21 with two years’ military experience.
“You, at that age, are the sole person to defend this base…,” Caine said. “You’ve sat in the Middle East for years, deployed over and over again, extended multiple times…as the day continues, you start to hear more and more chatter about impending attack…you know that you’re going to have approximately 2 minutes, 120 seconds, to either succeed or fail.”
“We believe this is the largest single Patriot (missile) engagement in U.S. history,” he said. “What we do know is there was a lot of metal flying around…the Patriots themselves flying around and the debris…and yet, our U.S. air defenders had only seconds to make strategic decisions…they are the unsung heroes…this really demonstrates the combat capability…of our Army air defenders.”
He then “set the stage” to explain how “deeply-buried underground targets” are analyzed and specifically, in present-day Iran. “For more than 15 years,” he said, an intelligence officer and a partner studied the Iranian nuclear sites intensely. “They literally dreamed about this target at night when they slept,” he said. “They knew from the very first days what this was for…they weren’t able to discuss this with their wives, their families, their friends…”
Ultimately, Caine said, the “GU-57” was developed to destroy the nuclear sites and practice bombings were conducted. “More than 15 years after they started their life’s work,” Trump ordered the bombs to be dropped,” he said.
“Operation Midnight Hammer was the culmination” of those 15 years of study, he added.
In regard to the Fordow site, “the weapons were designed, planned and delivered” to secure their success, he reported.
Shortly thereafter, he referred to a montage of graphics mounted on a large easel to explain how the “planners” devised their strategies, employing specific weapons identified by number and underwent “hundreds of test shots.”
The military, he said at 8:30, does not conduct its own damage assessments, but rather, the intelligence community.
“Male and female aviators” participated in the operation, he said.
When the four planes returned from the mission, he said, “there were a lot of flags and a lot of tears.”
“I could not be more proud, standing up here today, of our joint force…our forces remain on a high state of readiness in the region…”
He said other such “study” teams are actively looking for any threats to U.S. assets.
At 8:33, Hegseth resumed speaking, offering more details about the “planning” of the mission.
He said “leaks were used to disparage” the facts of the operation.