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An F/A-18E Super Hornet launching from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during Operation Epic Fury, April 1, 2026. Photo: US Department of War
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Washington will be “hanging around” to ensure Tehran “complies” with a ceasefire agreement reached Wednesday, in a final operational update following nearly 40 days of war with Iran.
The two-week ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran came after nearly 40 days of escalating conflict that began on February 28, when the US and Israel launched a large-scale military campaign against Iran. The confrontation triggered retaliatory attacks from Iran across the region, including strikes by Iraqi pro-Iran armed groups on alleged US interests in the Middle East.
“We’ll be hanging around, we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to make sure Iran complies with this ceasefire, and then ultimately comes to the table and makes a deal,” Hegseth replied to a reporter asking what the US president meant by “hangin’ around” in a post on Truth Social.
Despite the truce, Israel carried out one of its most intense waves of strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday. Iranian officials said the understanding included halting attacks on its regional allies, including in Lebanon and Iraq. Meanwhile, Donald Trump said in remarks to PBS that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported an informed source as saying that Iran has threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire if Israel continues its attacks on Lebanon.
While welcoming the diplomatic progress, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine warned about the fragility of the truce. "A ceasefire is a pause," he stated, adding that the joint force remains fully prepared to resume combat operations if called upon.
Hegseth said that "Iran begged for this ceasefire" after enduring what the Pentagon dubbed "Operation Epic Fury." He claimed the US “decimated” Iran’s military by using less than 10 percent of its combat power and rendering it “combat-ineffective for years to come.”
"We own their skies," Hegseth said, asserting that Iran's air force is "wiped out" and its navy resides "at the bottom of the sea." He warned that while remnants of Iranian forces might launch attacks, it would be "very unwise," noting that production facilities for missiles and drones had been destroyed and that existing stockpiles are “depleted and decimated.”
According to Hegseth, US President Donald Trump had the option to target Iran’s power plants and energy infrastructure but chose "mercy." He said the “arrangement” ensures the end of Tehran's nuclear ambitions, adding that nuclear materials will be removed.
Caine also highlighted a 14-hour rescue operation that recovered two downed American pilots inside Iran after a US F-15E fighter jet was shot down on Friday, noting that the US had "boots on the ground" twice during the campaign.
He provided a statistical breakdown of the 38-day operation, which mobilized more than 50,000 American troops. He confirmed the deaths of 13 US service members.
He said the US achieved its main objectives: neutralizing Iran's missile and drone capabilities, destroying its navy, and shattering its defense industrial base to ensure that "Iran cannot reconstitute the ability to project power outside their borders”.
Caine said US forces fighting alongside Israel struck more than 13,000 targets, including 4,000 dynamic pop-up threats. Defensively, the US, alongside Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, intercepted 1,700 incoming Iranian projectiles.
He detailed that US forces destroyed 80 percent of Iran's air defense systems and 90 percent of its weapons factories, including every Shahed drone facility, as well as nearly 80 percent of its nuclear industrial base. Meanwhile, maritime forces sank 150 ships, comprising 90 percent of Iran’s regular fleet and half of the IRGC’s small attack boats, while eliminating 95 percent of naval mines.
The air campaign included more than 10,000 missions. Caine highlighted 62 bomber missions, 18 of which lasted more than 30 hours round-trip from the continental US, a logistical feat he said "no other military in the world can do."
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