Latest news with #Defense
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
US did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's nuclear sites, top general tells lawmakers, citing depth of the target
The US military did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's largest nuclear sites last weekend because the site is so deep that the bombs likely would not have been effective, the US' top general told senators during a briefing on Thursday. The comment by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, which was described by three people who heard his remarks and a fourth who was briefed on them, is the first known explanation given for why the US military did not use the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb against the Isfahan site in central Iran. US officials believe Isfahan's underground structures house nearly 60% of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, which Iran would need in order to ever produce a nuclear weapon. US B2 bombers dropped over a dozen bunker-buster bombs on Iran's Fordow and Natanz nuclear sites. But Isfahan was only struck by Tomahawk missiles launched from a US submarine. The classified briefing to lawmakers was conducted by Caine, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Spokespeople for Caine did not return requests for comment. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN on Thursday night after receiving the briefing that some of Iran's capabilities 'are so far underground that we can never reach them. So they have the ability to move a lot of what has been saved into areas where there's no American bombing capacity that can reach it.' An early assessment produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency in the day after the US strikes said the attack did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program, including its enriched uranium, and likely only set the program back by months, CNN has reported. It also said Iran may have moved some of the enriched uranium out of the sites before they were attacked. The Trump officials who briefed lawmakers this week sidestepped questions about the whereabouts of Iran's stockpile of already-enriched uranium. President Donald Trump again claimed Friday that nothing was moved from the three Iranian sites before the US military operation. But Republican lawmakers emerged from the classified briefings on Thursday acknowledging that the US military strikes may not have eliminated all of Iran's nuclear materials. But they argued that doing so was not part of the military's mission. 'There is enriched uranium in the facilities that moves around, but that was not the intent or the mission,' Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas told CNN. 'My understanding is most of it's still there. So we need a full accounting. That's why Iran has to come to the table directly with us, so the (International Atomic Energy Agency) can account for every ounce of enriched uranium that's there. I don't think it's going out of the country, I think it's at the facilities.' 'The purpose of the mission was to eliminate certain particular aspects of their nuclear program. Those were eliminated. To get rid of the nuclear material was not part of the mission,' GOP Rep. Greg Murphy told CNN. 'Here's where we're at: the program was obliterated at those three sites. But they still have ambitions,' said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. 'I don't know where the 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium exists. But it wasn't part of the targets there.' '(The sites) were obliterated. Nobody can use them anytime soon,' Graham also said. Weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies Jeffrey Lewis told CNN that commercial satellite images show that Iran has accessed the tunnels at Isfahan. 'There were a moderate number of vehicles present at Isfahan on June 26 and at least one of the tunnel entrances was cleared of obstructions by mid-morning June 27,' Lewis said. 'If Iran's stockpile of (highly enriched uranium) was still in the tunnel when Iran sealed the entrances, it may be elsewhere now.' Additional satellite imagery captured on June 27 by Planet Labs show the entrance to the tunnels were open at the time, according to Lewis. The preliminary DIA assessment noted that the nuclear sites' above ground structures were moderately to severely damaged, CNN has reported. That damage could make it a lot harder for Iran to access any enriched uranium that does remain underground, sources said, something that Graham alluded to on Thursday. 'These strikes did a lot of damage to those three facilities,' Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat, told CNN on Thursday night. 'But Iran still has the know-how to put back together a nuclear program. And if they still have that enriched material, and if they still have centrifuges, and if they still have the capability to very quickly move those centrifuges into what we call a cascade, we have not set back that program by years. We have set it back by months.' Caine and Hegseth on Thursday said the military operation against Fordow went exactly as planned but did not mention the impacts to Isfahan and Natanz. CNN's Manu Raju contributed to this report.
The Intercept
21 hours ago
- Politics
- The Intercept
Pete Hegseth Is Mad the Media Won't Celebrate U.S. War With Iran
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had a meltdown on Thursday during a Pentagon press conference, excoriating reporters for failing to act as cheerleaders for his boss, President Donald Trump. In a briefing about U.S. strikes on Iran, Hegseth criticized the press for not following the Pentagon line and called on journalists to 'wave an American flag.' His statements harken back to past Pentagon calls for fawning coverage in the name of patriotism. 'The press corps,' Hegseth complained, 'cheer against Trump so hard, it's like in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful so bad.' Hegseth's tantrum stemmed from reporting that cast doubt on Trump's assertion that recent U.S. air strikes had 'obliterated' Iranian nuclear facilities last Saturday. The Intercept reported on skepticism about Trump's claims by current and former defense officials on Monday. On Tuesday, multiple media outlets disclosed information from a preliminary classified Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, report that said the attacks set back Iran's nuclear program by only a few months. 'You have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes. You have to hope,' Hegseth said at his second-ever news conference, claiming that the media assembled 'half truths, spun information, leaked information' to 'manipulate … the public mind over whether or not our brave pilots were successful.' Before and after Hegseth's atomic meltdown on Thursday, Trump unleashed a paroxysm of posts on Truth Social. 'FAKE NEWS CNN IS SO DISGUSTING AND INCOMPETENT. SOME OF THE DUMBEST ANCHORS IN THE BUSINESS!,' he shout-typed. 'Rumor is that the Failing New York Times and Fake News CNN will be firing the reporters who made up the FAKE stories on the Iran Nuclear sites because they got it so wrong. Lets see what happens?' It remains unclear whether the U.S. strikes significantly damaged Iran's nuclear program — which, according to American intelligence organizations, did not involve an active effort to produce a nuclear weapon. 'To me, it still appears that we have only set back the Iranian nuclear program by a handful of months,' Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said following a classified briefing on Thursday. 'There's no doubt there was damage done to the program. But the allegations that we have obliterated their program just don't seem to stand up to reason.' Complaints by the White House about the press during unpopular wars have a long history. As TV news increasingly showed the Vietnam War to be an intractable stalemate, if not an outright failure, President Lyndon Johnson complained about their coverage, 'I can prove that Ho Chi Minh is a son-of-a-bitch if you let me put it on the screen,' he told a group of reporters, referring to the leader of North Vietnam, but said that the networks 'want me to be the son-of-a-bitch.' His successor, Richard Nixon, was even more vitriolic about coverage of the war — and more succinct in his criticism. 'Our worst enemy seems to be the press!' he barked in 1971. In 1965, CBS News sent Morley Safer to Vietnam to cover the escalating American war. In July, Marines entered the village of Cam Ne and met stiff resistance, suffering three dead and four wounded. The next month, with Safer and a cameraman in tow, the troops set out for the area in armored vehicles. Safer recalled: The troops walked abreast toward this village and started firing. They said that there was some incoming fire. I didn't witness it, but it was a fairly large front, so it could have happened down the line. There were two guys wounded in our group, both in the ass, so that meant it was 'friendly fire.' They moved into the village and they systematically began torching every house— every house as far as I could see, getting people out in some cases, using flamethrowers in others. No Vietnamese speakers, by the way, were among the group with the flamethrower. About 150 homes in Cam Ne were burned; others were bulldozed, as Marines razed two entire hamlets. Artillery was then called in on the wreckage. According to reports, one child was killed and four women were wounded. In actuality, many more may have died. Safer's segment, 'The Burning of Cam Ne Village,' sparked public outrage. The Defense Department demanded CBS recall Safer from Vietnam, and Johnson called CBS President Frank Stanton. 'Are you trying to fuck me,' the U.S. president barked. 'Who is this?' Stanton asked, according to reporting by David Halberstam and others. Johnson replied, 'Frank, this is your president and yesterday your boys shat on the American flag.' A year later, Safer wrote a newspaper column about a visit to Saigon by Arthur Sylvester, the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. Per Safer, Sylvester laid into the press: 'I can't understand how you fellows can write what you do while American boys are dying out here,' he began. Then he went on to the effect that American correspondents had a patriotic duty to disseminate only information that made the United States look good. A network television correspondent said, 'Surely, Arthur, you don't expect the American press to be the handmaidens of government.' 'That's exactly what I expect,' came the reply. Sylvester also told the reporters: 'Look, if you think any American official is going to tell you the truth, then you're stupid. Did you hear that? Stupid.' Sylvester later denied the 'handmaiden' comment, but others present backed Safer. 'Sylvester engaged specific correspondents in near name-calling, twice telling Jack Langguth [of The New York Times] he was stupid,' another attendee noted. 'At one point Sylvester actually made the statement he thought press should be 'handmaiden' of government.' In his press conference, Hegseth called on journalists to publish stories lauding troops for doing their jobs, asking rhetorically if outlets had written on the difficulty of flying a plane for 36 hours, manning a Patriot missile battery, or executing mid-air refueling. 'Time and time again, classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad. And what's really happening is you're undermining the success of incredible B-2 pilots and incredible F-35 pilots and incredible refuelers and incredible air defenders who accomplish their mission,' he groused. 'How about we celebrate that?' 'Premising entire stories on biased leaks to biased publications trying to make something look bad,' Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, griped. 'How about we take a beat, recognize first the success of our warriors, hold them up, tell their stories, celebrate that, wave an American flag, be proud of what we accomplished.' The Intercept followed up with the Pentagon to ask if Hegseth would help facilitate this type of reporting. A Pentagon spokesperson instead offered the opportunity to speak with Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson off the record. When The Intercept called to set up a time to speak with Wilson, a Pentagon spokesperson refused to do so. 'Kingsley will reach out to you if she's got anything to provide you,' said the official. 'I would just stand by. That's the best thing I can offer you right now.' The Office of the Secretary of Defense refused to provide further clarification about Hegseth's views on the role of the press and how the media ought to cover him, the president, and the military. 'We have nothing more to provide,' a spokesperson said after providing nothing. Hegseth is, notably, calling on the press to celebrate a war which Americans are overwhelmingly against. Americans disapprove of the strikes on Iran 56 percent to 44 percent, according to a CNN/SSRS poll conducted after the strikes. An even greater number distrust Trump's decision-making on the use of force in Iran, with 58 percent saying the strikes will make Iran more of a threat to the U.S. and only 27 percent believing the attacks will lessen the threat. A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday found only 39 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling on the Israel–Iran war, while 53 percent disapprove. Hegseth's antagonism toward the news media began well before Thursday's press conference. Since his appointment, he has conducted a war on whistleblowers despite the fact that he inadvertently shared detailed attack plans — of far more import than the DIA report because they preceded military strikes — with a journalist on a messaging app. Hegseth has reportedly accused high-ranking military officers of leaks and threatened to subject them to polygraph tests. Joe Kasper, Hegseth's former chief of staff, called out 'unauthorized disclosures of national security information involving sensitive communications with principals within the Office of the Secretary of Defense' and threatened that parties found responsible would be 'referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution,' in a March memo. Speaking in April with quasi-journalist Megyn Kelly, another former Fox News host, ex-Hegseth aide Colin Carroll said that the secretary and his team have been 'consumed' by his leaky Department of Defense. 'If you look at a pie chart of the secretary's day, at this point, 50 percent of it is probably a leak investigation,' Carroll said. The FBI is now investigating how the DIA report became public. 'We are doing a leak investigation with the FBI now, because this information is for internal purposes — battle damage investigation — and CNN and others are trying to spin it to try and make the president look bad when this was an overwhelming success,' Hegseth told reporters. At his Thursday press conference, Hegseth urged the media to do more to herald American exceptionalism, at least in terms of military prowess. 'How about we talk about how special America is, that we — only we — have these capabilities? I think it's too much to ask, unfortunately, for the fake news,' said Hegseth in aggrieved tones. 'So, we're used to that, but we also have an opportunity to stand at the podium and read the truth of what's really happening.'
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Pete Hegseth renames USNS Harvey Milk, says 'people want to be proud of the ship they're sailing in'
Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense under President Donald Trump, has announced the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk. Vowing to 'take the politics out of ship naming', Hegseth criticized the trend of naming US Navy ships after political activists. Harvey Milk was notable for being the first openly gay politician to be elected to public office, with him becoming a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The ship, which is a fleet replenishment oiler, will now be named the USNS Oscar V. Peterson. As Pete Hegseth explained in his announcement, Oscar Peterson was a World War 2 soldier who served on the USS Neosho and died in battle against Japanese forces in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Pete Hegseth said USNS Harvey Milk name was a political statement I am pleased to announce that the United States Navy is renaming the USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. are taking the politics out of ship naming. Stating his belief that naming the ship USNS Harvey Milk during the Obama administration had been a politically motivated exercise, Pete Hegseth claimed that renaming the ship to USNS Oscar V. Peterson was an effort at making the entire process apolitical. He stated that 'people want to be proud of the ship they're sailing in', and that honoring Oscar V. Peterson's sacrifice would bring about that pride. As Hegseth noted, Oscar V. Peterson was posthumously rewarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his sacrifice. Despite his claims of removing political bias from the ship naming process, however, his decision drew sharp reactions from his detractors and political opponents, with many Democratic politicians characterizing his announcement as a deliberate attempt at erasing Harvey Milk's legacy. Democratic lawmakers have slammed Pete Hegseth's decision Erasing Harvey Milk's name is disgusting, blatant discrimination—and during Pride Month to served the U.S. Navy and his country honorably, and he was assassinated while serving the public and fighting for LGBTQ+ should be ashamed of himself and reverse… Pete Hegseth had first revealed his intention to rename USNS Harvey Milk earlier this month on June 3, prior to today's formal announcement. Democrat lawmakers were quick to announce their disapproval in response. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that 'Hegseth should be ashamed of himself and reverse this immediately'. Nancy Pelosi called Pete Hegseth's plan "a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American dream.' She also accused Hegseth of being spiteful, and said that his decision would do nothing to strengthen America's national security interests. Sean Penn, who'd portrayed Harvey Milk in the 2008 biopic "Milk", has also mocked Pete Hegseth's decision by claiming that the Secretary of Defence had demoted himself to the rank of 'Chief PETTY officer'.
Business Insider
a day ago
- Politics
- Business Insider
The Pentagon stripped the name of gay rights icon Harvey Milk from a Navy ship. Here's what it's called now.
Announcing that the Defense Department is finished with "political" ship names, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a video message Friday that the Navy ship honoring gay rights icon Harvey Milk has a new name. The John Lewis-class replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk is now named after Medal of Honor recipient Oscar V. Peterson, a chief petty officer who posthumously received the nation's highest honor for military valor in action. Peterson led a repair party on the Cimarron-class fleet oiler USS Neosho afloat, which had been severely damaged by Japanese dive bombers during the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942. His entire repair party was either killed or seriously wounded. Though gravely injured during the repair efforts, Peterson managed to close the bulkhead stop valves to keep the ship operational. The sailor later died of his injuries. "People want to be proud of the ship they're sailing in," Hegseth said, calling Peterson's actions historic and heroic that kept with the traditions of the Navy rather than honoring politics and activism like the last administration. USNS Harvey Milk was named in the final months of the Obama administration to honor civil rights icon who had served in the Navy before being forced out due to his sexual orientation. Milk had been a Navy diver. He was a national icon within the gay rights movement and the first openly gay man to be elected into public office in California. As a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he helped usher in a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment, and public accommodations. He was later assassinated for this bill in late 1978. Milk posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. The renaming comes at the tail-end of Pride Month, which is one of the identity celebration months that the US Department of Defense declared "dead" earlier this year. The announcement also comes just days after the 10-year anniversary of the federal legalization of gay marriage in the US through the Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges decision back in 2015. USNS Harvey Milk was one of six ships dedicated to prominent civil rights leaders. Other figures honored with ship names include Sojourner Truth, John Lewis, and Robert F. Kennedy. When the ship was launched in 2021, then-Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said that the service needed to "not just to amend the wrongs of the past but to give inspiration to all of our LGBTQ community leaders." "For far too long, sailors like Lt. Milk were forced into the shadows or, worse yet, forced out of our beloved Navy," Del Toro said. "That injustice is part of our Navy history, but so is the perseverance of all who continue to serve in the face of injustice." Since President Donald Trump again took office in January of this year, his administration has undertaken efforts to eliminate anything seen as affiliated with diversity, equity, and inclusion within DoD and across the federal government. That includes many projects, content, and efforts related to women, minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Trump's Pentagon has also reversed efforts to rename Army bases honoring Confederate officers, bringing back the original names but with the odd catch that they now honor soldiers who happen to share last names with those Confederate officers. These include Army installations like Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, Fort Hood, and Fort Lee. The changes to the Army base names were originally a result of a 2021 Congressional mandate prohibiting the naming of military installations after Confederate personnel. In his video message, Hegseth said the Pentagon was "taking the politics out of ship naming." The names of US Navy vessels are typically picked by political appointees such as the Navy secretary. Historically, the conventions around naming have been left up to the secretary and shifted based on the administration's priorities and focuses. Ships have been named after presidents who did and didn't serve in uniform, civil rights activists, and other officials. Renaming a Navy ship already in service is rare. Some recent changes include renaming the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USNS Robert Smalls, which was originally USNS Chancellorsville after the Civil War battle, and the Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship USNS Marie Tharp, originally named the USNS Maury after Matthew Fontaine Maury, an oceanographer who resigned from the Navy to become a commander in the Confederate States Navy during the Civil War. It's unclear exactly why Hegseth announced the name change for the Milk, as this role is typically done by the Navy secretary. Renaming a Navy vessel comes with costs of repainting, reprinting, new documentation, and other related fees. It's unclear how long that will take or how much it will cost.
MTV Lebanon
a day ago
- Business
- MTV Lebanon
27 Jun 2025 16:58 PM PM Nawaf Salam chairs Cabinet session at Grand Serail
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is currently chairing a Cabinet session at the Grand Serail, attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers of Finance Yassin Jaber, Culture Ghassan Salameh, Defense Michel Menassa, Energy Joe Saddi, Tourism Laura Khazen Lahoud, Social Affairs Hanin Al Sayed, Foreign Affairs Youssef Rajji, Economy, and Trade Amer Bisat, the Displaced and Information Technology Affairs Kamal Shehadeh, Interior Ahmad Hajjar, Justice Adel Nassar, Telecommunications Charles Hajj, Youth and Sports Nora Bayrakdarian, Education Rima Karami, Industry Joe Issa El Khoury, Administrative Development Affairs Fadi Makki, Labor Mohammad Haidar, Public Works Fayez Rassamny, Agriculture Nizar Hani, Information Paul Morcos, Environment Tamara Al-Zein, and Public HealthRakan Nassereldin. Also present are the Director-General of the Lebanese presidency Dr. Antoine Choucair, and the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, Judge Mahmoud Makkieh.
