Hegseth: "We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we're finishing it" VIDEO

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has kicked off his Pentagon press conference by saying that for “47 long years”, the Iranian regime has waged a “savage, one-sided war against America,” The Guardian reports.

He noted that they did this through “the blood of our people, car bombs in Beirut, rocket attacks on our ships, murders at our embassies, roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan”.

The defence secretary added: “We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it.”

Hegseth said today that Iran was “building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions” and “had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear bomb”.

The defense secretary said that after the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, the US threatened Iran with “far worse” consequences if they rebuilt their nuclear program. “They arrogantly refused,” Hegseth said, noting that Trump, top officials and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner “bent over backwards for real diplomacy”.

“The former regime had every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal, but Tehran was not negotiating,” Hegseth said.

SEC HEGSETH: "It turns out the regime who chanted 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' was gifted death from America and death from Israel."

"This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it today." pic.twitter.com/CdecekXvGb

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 2, 2026