Hegseth: US Will Control Iran "Soon" - Pentagon Signals Endgame on Day 5

Image: Hegseth: US Will Control Iran "Soon" - Pentagon Signals Endg

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday that the United States will achieve total aerial superiority over Iran "within days" and will "soon control the country." The statement is the most explicit signal yet that Washington's objectives go beyond destroying Iran's nuclear program. As he spoke, Khamenei's funeral was postponed, the Assembly of Experts moved closer to naming a new Supreme Leader, and Iranian missiles continued to fall on Gulf states.

The Pentagon's Clearest Language Yet

Standing at the podium at the Pentagon, Hegseth did not soften his words.

"This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they're down."

He told reporters that US and Israeli air forces would have "total aerial superiority" over Iranian skies within days. Then came the statement that cuts through all diplomatic ambiguity: the United States and its allies will "soon control the country."

No senior American official has used that language publicly in any prior conflict involving Iran. It implies not just the degradation of Iran's military but the removal or neutralization of its government.

Administration officials have since declined to define exactly what "control" means, but the trajectory of the campaign, now in its fifth day, leaves little room for interpretation. Khamenei is dead. His senior commanders have been targeted. The Islamic Republic's command structure is fragmenting under continuous bombardment.

Khamenei Funeral Postponed

The three-day state funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been scheduled to begin Wednesday evening at Tehran's Grand Mosalla prayer complex. It was postponed hours before it was due to start.

An official told state media the postponement was due to the "high volume of requests to attend" and the need to prepare "appropriate facilities." The explanation strained credulity given that US and Israeli strikes on Tehran continued through the day, including hits on what the Israeli military described as "security headquarters" across the capital.

The subtext is stark: the regime cannot safely move the body of its own Supreme Leader through a city under active bombardment.

The Assembly of Experts - the clerical body responsible for naming Khamenei's successor - said Wednesday it was "close to a conclusion." Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told state television that candidates had been identified. Reuters reported that Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader's 56-year-old son, remained the front-runner.

Iran Strikes Back: Gulf Civilian Casualties

Iran has not stopped retaliating. Overnight strikes hit targets in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Kuwait's health ministry reported Wednesday that a girl was killed by shrapnel that fell on a residential area during an Iranian attack - the first confirmed civilian death from Iranian strikes in Gulf territory.

Turkey said its NATO air defenses shot down an Iranian ballistic missile that had entered its airspace, crossing through Syrian and Iraqi territory. Ankara confirmed the intercept but declined further details, saying only that "NATO defenses functioned as designed."

New strikes were also reported on the western Iranian city of Urmia. Residents reached by BBC Persian described streets emptied of people, closed shops, and food prices rising sharply. "Almost no one imagined that things would reach this point," one resident said.

Iris Dena: "First Torpedo Sinking Since World War Two"

Hegseth opened his press conference with another declaration of historical weight. He confirmed that a US submarine had torpedoed and sunk the Iranian destroyer Iris Dena in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday - "the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two," he said.

Sri Lankan naval and rescue crews recovered 80 bodies and pulled 32 survivors from the water. Approximately 68 crew members remain missing. The ship went down roughly 40 kilometers off Sri Lanka's southern coast. Colombo, which had stayed neutral throughout the conflict, now faces the task of managing the humanitarian aftermath of a battle it never asked to host.

Senate Challenges, Markets Rattle

The US Senate moved Wednesday to vote on a measure that would require Congressional approval before US forces continue operations against Iran. The vote is not expected to pass - Republican leadership has signaled it will block the resolution - but the challenge reflects deepening unease within the institution about the pace and scope of a war that was not debated before it began.

Markets remain on edge. Oil prices have stayed elevated since the conflict's opening strikes on Saturday. Economists warned publicly that prolonged disruptions to Gulf shipping lanes could accelerate global inflation. The S&P 500 closed lower for a fourth consecutive session Wednesday.

What "Control" Actually Means

Hegseth's endgame language is deliberate. Washington wants Iran to know it has no path back to its pre-war military posture. The intended effect is to accelerate collapse of the current regime or force what US officials have privately described as a "strategic surrender" - halting all retaliatory strikes, accepting disarmament of remaining missile infrastructure, and permitting international monitoring of any remaining nuclear facilities.

Whether Iran can be bombed into that position is another question. No government in modern history has submitted to those terms under active bombardment without either total military defeat or an internal collapse of its ruling structure. Both remain possible. Neither is guaranteed.

What Hegseth made clear is that the United States is no longer running a limited strike campaign. It is running a campaign designed to end the Islamic Republic's ability to govern.