Pentagon chief says US intensifying strikes on Iran

WASHINGTON: US attacks on Iran will hit a new intensity Tuesday and the war will continue as long as President Donald Trump decides, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.

“Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran,” Hegseth told a news conference at the Pentagon more than 10 days into the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

As for a timeline for the war, Trump “gets to control the throttle. He’s the one deciding,” Hegseth said.

“It’s not for me to posit whether it’s the beginning, the middle or the end,” the defense secretary said.

Among the goals of the conflict is the destruction of Iran’s navy, which has been targeted with “artillery, fighters, bombers and sea-launched missiles,” General Dan Caine, the top US military officer, said alongside Hegseth.

READ MORE: Iran says oil blockade will continue until attacks end, Trump threatens to escalate strikes

Iran has vowed to block all oil exports via the Gulf while the war lasts, while Trump has threatened “death, fire, and fury” if Tehran interferes with crude exports.

Caine said US forces continue “to hunt and strike mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities” – weapons Iran could use to block maritime traffic.

Hegseth meanwhile accused Iran of “moving rocket launchers into civilian neighborhoods, near schools, near hospitals to try to prevent our ability to strike – that’s how they operate.”

He did not directly address a strike early in the conflict that hit an elementary school in the southern city of Minab, which Iran said killed more than 150 people.

Trump has said the incident is being investigated, while suggesting Monday that Iran may have fired a Tomahawk missile at the school itself. Iran does not possess Tomahawks – a US weapon used extensively by US forces.