Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Sunday morning that the U.S. operation in Iran overnight had hit all of its planned targets and that initial assessments showed that the strikes had inflicted extensive damage on Iran’s nuclear facilities. But Caine said that a full assessment of whether the Iranian nuclear program had been fully destroyed would take more time.

Speaking alongside Caine at a Pentagon press briefing, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth emphasized that the strike was limited and strictly targeted at Iran’s nuclear program and was not designed to prompt regime change. He added that the U.S. continues to seek peace with Iran.

“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” Caine said. Pressed on whether Iran retains any nuclear capability, Caine said that a full assessment “is still pending, and it would be way too early for me to comment on what may be there.”

Hegseth added that the U.S. believes it “achieved the destruction of capabilities” at the Fordow nuclear facility, which he described as the “primary target.”

The operation, dubbed Midnight Hammer, involved seven B2 stealth bombers which dropped a total of 14 bunker-buster bombs on Fordow and Natanz, accompanied by more than two dozen cruise missiles fired at Esfahan. Officials described Fordow as the primary U.S. target. 

More than 100 other aircraft were involved in support capacities, and Caine said that Iran did not fire a single shot at U.S. forces or even deploy its fighter jets during the operation.

Plans for the strike were kept to a limited number of officials, and the U.S. conducted a deception effort to disguise its preparations. Caine said that Israeli operations over the past week had helped pave the way for the U.S. strike but Israel was not directly involved in the overnight operation.

Hegseth said that congressional leaders were notified about the strike after U.S. aircraft had left Iranian airspace.

He stressed that the strike “did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people” and reiterated that Trump continues to seek peace with the Iranian regime.

“The United States does not seek war,” Hegseth said. “But let me be clear: We will act swiftly and decisively when our people, our partners or our interests are threatened. Iran should listen to the president of the United States and know that he means it every word.”

He emphasized that the operation was “most certainly not open-ended” but that the U.S. would “respond if necessary.”

Hegseth said the U.S. had sent public and private messages to Iran to ask its leaders to come to negotiations.

“They understand precisely what the American position is, precisely what steps they can take to allow for peace, and we hope they do so,” he continued.

Asked about whether U.S. assessments or intelligence about the status of Iran’s nuclear weaponization effort had changed since March, when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon, Hegseth did not specifically contradict Gabbard.

“I would just simply say that the president has made it very clear he’s looked at all of this, all of the intelligence, all of the information, and come to the conclusion that the Iranian nuclear program is a threat, and was willing to take this precision operation to neutralize that threat in order to advance American national interests,” Hegseth said.

Caine said that U.S. forces throughout the region had stepped up measures to protect U.S. forces from retaliation.

“Our forces remain on high alert and are fully postured to respond to any Iranian retaliation or proxy attacks, which would be an incredibly poor choice. We will defend ourselves. The safety of our service members and civilians remains our highest priority,” Caine said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine declined to definitively say on Wednesday whether they believed Iran would use a nuclear weapon if it acquired one. 

As they testified before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Hegseth and Caine to provide their “professional military judgement” on whether they agreed with Israel’s assessment that Tehran would use a nuclear weapon against the Jewish state. 

“I think they would potentially do that,” Caine said. “I think they’d use it to pressure Israel. I don’t know whether they would use it.”

“I think Israel believes, and quite understandably, that it is an existential threat to their existence, and that in the hands of the wrong Iranian, a cleric or a radical, that they would seek to use it,” Hegseth said. 

Graham replied to Hegseth, “Well, is this a radical cleric that exists there today? If he’s not, who the hell would be? So I’m trying to get everybody to think, let’s don’t do what we did in the ‘30s. They’re going to use a nuclear weapon if they get it.”

The South Carolina senator began his questioning on the topic by asking Hegseth and Caine if each thought the world “miscalculated Hitler in the ‘20s and ’30s,” which both men responded to affirmatively. “We certainly did not understand the scope of the threat, yes,” Hegseth replied. 

“The guy wrote a book [saying that] I want to kill all the Jews and nobody believed him. … The danger of that is like 50 million people get killed. So let’s not do that now,” Graham said.

After asking Hegseth and Caine about the Iranian nuclear program, Graham pressed both about China’s intentions in Taiwan and Russia’s plans in Europe beyond Ukraine while encouraging them to take a tougher posture on U.S. adversaries. 

“Listen, I like what you’re doing. I just think we got to get this stuff right. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon because they’ll use it. They’re homicidal maniacs who are religious Nazis. China is an expansionist power who will take Taiwan if we don’t deter them. Russia will dismember Ukraine and keep going if we don’t stop them,” Graham told the two. 

Graham then turned to the issue of radical Islamic terrorism and asked if al-Qaida would use a nuclear weapon if it acquired one. “A nuclear weapon in the hands of al-Qaida would be a very bad thing,” Hegseth replied.

“Is there a whole lot of difference between a nuclear weapon in the hands of al-Qaida and the Ayatollah in Iran? I don’t think so. They just have a different religious reason to do it,” Graham said. 

At a Senate hearing, @LindseyGrahamSC asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine whether they believed Iran would use a nuclear weapon if it acquired one.

"I’m trying to get everybody to think, let’s don’t do what we did in the ‘30s.… pic.twitter.com/e6U7nIKwPS

— Jewish Insider (@J_Insider) June 11, 2025

Graham is set to introduce a resolution on Thursday affirming that the only acceptable outcome of U.S. nuclear talks with Iran would be the total dismantlement of its enrichment program.

Many Republicans on Capitol Hill have expressed concern that the Trump administration could agree to a deal with terms similar to former President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement. 

For his part, Graham has expressed confidence that Trump would not allow for any enrichment, citing recent private conversations with the president.