U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that American and Israeli forces are on the verge of gaining complete control of Iranian airspace, a development he suggested would dramatically accelerate the allied military campaign against Tehran.

Speaking at the Pentagon, Hegseth said the combined air power of the United States and Israel is rapidly dismantling Iran’s ability to defend its skies.

“In under a week, the two most powerful air forces in the world — the United States and Israel — will have complete control over Iranian skies,” Hegseth said. “Uncontested airspace.”

Such dominance, he said, would allow allied aircraft to operate freely across Iran, striking missile sites, military infrastructure, and leadership targets around the clock.

“It means we will fly all day, all night, finding, fixing, and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military,” Hegseth said. “It means flying over Tehran, over the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, over Iranian leaders looking up and seeing only us every minute of every day until we decide it’s over.”

The Defense secretary described a sustained aerial campaign involving American strategic bombers, fighter jets, and drones operating alongside Israeli aircraft.

“B-2s, B-52s, Predator drones, fighters — controlling the skies, picking targets,” he said. “Death and destruction from the sky all day long.”

Once full air superiority is established, Hegseth said U.S. forces will rely heavily on precision-guided munitions to expand the strike campaign.

The United States, he noted, has vast stockpiles of 500-pound, 1,000-pound, and 2,000-pound GPS- and laser-guided bombs, which can be deployed against a wide array of military targets across Iran.

Hegseth emphasized that the campaign is being conducted under aggressive rules of engagement designed to maximize the impact of American military power.

“This was not meant to be a fair fight, and it isn’t,” he said. “We are punching them while they are down, which is exactly how it should be.”

Israel’s parallel campaign, Operation Roaring Lion, has also intensified dramatically. Hegseth said Israeli operations are now seven times more intense than June’s earlier Operation Rising Lion, reflecting the escalating scale of the war.

“We are accelerating, not decelerating,” he said. “Iran’s capabilities are evaporating by the hour while U.S. strength grows fiercer, smarter, and more dominant.”

The defense secretary also cautioned that the war remains in its early stages. Operation Epic Fury began just four days ago, he noted, and additional American forces continue to flow into the Middle East.

“It is very early,” Hegseth said, adding that President Donald Trump has directed the military to take whatever time is necessary to ensure success.

Still, he argued that the results so far have been striking.

“The results have been incredible — historic really,” he said. “Only the United States could lead this.”

Hegseth also highlighted the role of Israel’s military, saying the partnership between Washington and Jerusalem has dramatically increased the campaign’s destructive potential.

“When you add the IDF, a devastatingly capable force, the combination is sheer destruction for our radical Islamist Iranian adversaries,” he said.

“We have only just begun to hunt, dismantle, demoralize, destroy, and defeat Iran’s capabilities.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)