WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that Iran's capabilities to lay mine in Strait of Hormuz have been degraded by the U.S. forces' incessant attacks.
Hegseth said this when questioned at a cabinet meeting Thursday about concerns regarding the IRGC putting commercial vessels at risk by dispatching mines throughout the hotly contested Strait of Hormuz. Hegseth said the degradation of Iran's forces would make such action difficult for the regime.
'We have so heavily degraded their coastal defense capabilities and their naval capabilities that any strategic or operational attempts to do those types of things are extremely limited, and we continue to move over the top of that,' he told the meeting, chaired by President Donald Trump at the White House.
As an example, Hegseth said A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters have been flying freely at will throughout Iranian airspace, including the Strait of Hormuz.
'See, you only send these slow, low-flying, close-air support platforms when the enemy has no meaningful air defenses left. [Therefore], their presence is proof that Iran's air defenses are gone, their command and control is shattered, and their top leaders [are] hiding in underground bunkers,' Hegseth said, adding that the morale of the regime's fighters is plummeting as mid-level commanders are being neutralized on the battlefield.
US intelligence officials had claimed earlier this week that Iran has laid at least a dozen mines in the Strait of Hormuz, making energy vessels' already limited transit through the vital trade waters all the more dangerous.
Hegseth reported to the Cabinet that more than 150 Iranian navy vessels have been sunk since U.S. military operation began on February 28.
In addition, he noted that more than 10,000 Iranian targets have been destroyed in less than a month - including underground facilities and buildings vital to the regime's defense industrial base.
'Twenty-seven days ago, Iran had a modern military; never in recorded history has a nation's military been so quickly and effectively neutralized,' Hegseth said, also noting that U.S. and Israeli combat capabilities continue to rise as Iran's decline.
'We are here to win, and we're full speed ahead,' he added.
He confirmed the killing of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy's top commander, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, in an Israeli air strike.
'Not only do they not have a navy, Mr. President, they no longer have a navy commander. The IRGC navy's commander was killed overnight in operations; so, no navy, no leader,' Hegseth told Trump.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
