Washington, DC: “If you kill Americans …… we will hunt you down,” was the warning issued by US secretary of war Pete Hegseth through a social media message, amid the ongoing crisis in the Gulf.
The mesage was shared in a post by CENTCOM on X, underlining the administration’s uncompromising stance on national security.
“If you kill Americans, if you threaten Americans anywhere on earth, we will hunt you down without apology and without hesitation, and we will kill you,” Hegseth was quoted as saying, as reported by ANI.
A 21-second video clip accompanied the stern message. The clip provides a visual demonstration of the military’s current reach, showing a series of “unclassified” images of vehicles and structures being bombed and destroyed by US forces during recent operations.
Hegseth’s warning aligns with US president Donald Trump’s statements. He had asserted on Saturday that the US has successfully neutralised the entire Iranian leadership. The president characterised these military operations as the removal of a significant “cancer” from the global stage.
While travelling to Miami by Air Force One, Trump maintained a confident outlook on the progress of the campaign.
“We’re winning the war by a lot. We’ve decimated their whole evil empire. It’ll continue, I’m sure, for a little while. The war itself is going unbelievably. It’s as good as it can be,” he said.
The president provided a detailed list of the strategic military gains achieved by American forces, stating that the offensive had effectively dismantled Iran’s maritime and aerial capabilities.
“We’ve wiped out their (Iranian) navy, 44 ships. We’ve wiped out their air force, every plane. We’ve wiped out most of their missiles,” Trump claimed.
Iran’s capability to launch offensive strikes has been severely curtailed, he said, adding: “You see the missiles aren’t coming much anymore. We’ve also hit their manufacturing areas where they make the missiles very hard. Their drone capacity is way down, and we’ve hurt them where it hurts, including about every form of leadership you can have; we’ve wiped out.”
Trump declined to provide a specific end date to the conflict, though he emphasised that the Iranian armed forces were on the verge of collapse.
“I never project time, whatever it takes. But the (Iranian) military is almost nonexistent. We could hit their military itself very hard, but maybe we will, maybe we won’t. We haven’t made that determination,” he remarked.
He also highlighted the extensive damage dealt to the industrial infrastructure supporting the Iranian military.
“We’ve hit the manufacturing very hard. They’re at about nine per cent of what they sent out in the first two days, and we think that’s because they don’t have that much. We’ve also knocked out about 70 per cent of the rockets, of the launchers. The launchers are a big deal, very hard to get, very expensive,” Trump said.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff, speaking alongside the president, indicated that a diplomatic breakthrough remained a possibility, though the decision ultimately rests with the White House.
“I think there is. I think that’s going to be up to the President, that’s what I think,” he said, while noting that past discussions had been hindered by Tehran’s refusal to compromise.
“But they didn’t seem to be very amenable in that first set of negotiations. You heard what I said. They said we have the inalienable right to enrich. They bragged about having 60 per cent enriched fuel, enough for 11 bombs. And they told me and Jared, we’re not going to give you diplomatically what you couldn’t take militarily. So you know, I think they’re going to need a change of attitude,” he added.
