Iran ‘begged’ for ceasefire, Trump chose ‘mercy,’ says Defence Secretary Hegseth

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2 min readUpdated: Apr 8, 2026 06:04 PM IST

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, during a Pentagon press briefing on Wednesday said, that Iran “begged” for this ceasefire and that American military’s Operation Epic Fury “decimated” Tehran’s military. Hegseth said that Iran accepted the ceasefire under “overwhelming pressure.”

The defence secretary said that if Tehran had not accepted US-backed ceasefire, “the next targets would have been their power plants, their bridges, and oil and energy infrastructure.” Hegseth suggested that it would have taken decades for Iran to rebuild but the regime leader recognised that a agreeing to a deal was better.

“President Trump had the power to cripple Iran’s entire economy in minutes, but he chose mercy,” Hegseth said in the press briefing on Wednesday.

Informing about Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Hegseth said he has been “wounded and disfigured.” He added that Tehran’s factories have been “razed to ground” and that the Pentagon has “done its job for now.”

The defence secretary said that after the ceasefire deal was agreed by Iran, “there’s now a chance for peace” but American troops involved in the conflict remain ready.

 

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