Washington, Jun 26 (AP) Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and other military officials held a Thursday morning news conference to respond to an early leaked intelligence report suggesting US strikes against Iran likely put the country back mere months.
President Donald Trump has insisted the US strikes delivered a “devastating” attack and that questioning his assessment of the strike was not only unpatriotic but also makes the pilots who dropped the bombs “very upset.”
Drawing reliable conclusions about the impact of the US strikes is difficult only days after they took place.
Here's the latest:
Trump tunes in
The president seems to be monitoring the Pentagon news conference, posting about it on social media. “Watch it!” he wrote.
He also baselessly suggested that media outlets that reported on the intelligence assessment “will be firing the reporters who made up the FAKE stories.”
Trump has been fixated on coverage of the US strikes, which could determine how American voters view his decision to get involved in the latest war in the Middle East.
Hegseth berates the media
The news conference began with Hegseth, a former Fox News host, criticizing the media for “hunting for scandals all the time.”
He accused reporters of failing to acknowledge “historic moments” like improved military recruiting and increased spending on European defence by US allies on the continent.
He then shifted to attacking the “fake news” for reporting on a preliminary assessment about the impact of recent US strikes on Iran.
Pentagon briefing begins to defend Trump on Iran strikes
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen Dan Caine assembled this morning to push the president's claims that the recent US attack “obliterated” Iranian nuclear facilities.
A preliminary assessment, produced by the Defence Intelligence Agency, said American bombs and missiles caused a setback of only a few months. Trump has rejected this conclusion, lashing out at the news media for reporting on it and marshalling his administration to support his version of events.
Turkey's president wants to host peace talks with Russia, Ukraine and the US
Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the comments late Wednesday on a flight back from the NATO summit, where he met with Trump.
“Our ultimate goal is to host a leaders-level meeting in our country and to build the peace that we long for,” Erdogan said, according to a transcript of his comments made available on Thursday.
He also quoted Trump as expressing willingness to participate in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey, if Russian President Vladimir Putin also agrees to attend.
Erdogan quoted Trump as saying: “If Russian President Vladimir Putin comes to Istanbul or Ankara for a solution, I will also come to Istanbul or Ankara.”
Russian and Ukrainian delegations, meeting in Istanbul in late May and in June, agreed to swap thousands of dead and seriously wounded troops but made no progress toward ending the 3-year-old war.
Despite suggestions of a possible leaders' summit, Putin did not attend the talks, sending a low-level delegation instead. (AP)
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