"This is not endless": Pentagon chief sets out aims of US operation in Iran

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has set out the goals of the US war in Iran, saying the United States did not start it but they will end it.

Hegseth said at a Pentagon press conference that the US had held talks with Iran and warned it to come to a deal.

"[The US] bent over backwards for real diplomacy, offering pathway after pathway to peace… [We] tried over and over and over again, earnest attempts at peace. The former regime had every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal. But Tehran was not negotiating. They were stalling, buying time to reload their missile stockpiles and restart their nuclear ambitions… Well, President Trump doesn't play those games," he said.

Hegseth said the war against Iran could not be compared to the one in Iraq, adding that the US would not get bogged down in the same nation-building quagmire it found itself in two decades ago.

"This is not Iraq. This is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation building wars dumb. And he's right.

This is the opposite. This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission. Destroy the missile threat, destroy the navy, no nukes," Hegseth added.

Hegseth said the strikes were not aimed at "regime change", though he acknowledged Iran's leadership had changed.

"We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it," he concluded.

On the morning of 28 February, Trump announced that the US had launched a large-scale operation against Iran. Israel also carried out strikes.

Iran responded by launching strikes on several Gulf states where US military bases are located.

Four US service personnel were killed in action during the operation.