Fact Check: Is Trump and Hegseth's claim that Iran War a total US victory true?
WASHINGTON, DC: Following the announcement of the ceasefire in the weeks-long war with Iran, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that the US had emerged victorious. The claim has raised many eyebrows, with many questioning the extent of the victory. Let us analyse, evaluate, and fact-check the extent of victory.
Claim: United States has emerged victorious in the Iran war
“The US had already met and exceeded all military objectives," Trump said after declaring the ceasefire on April 7, and said he would suspend bombing Iran for two weeks to allow for negotiations.
"Total and complete victory. 100%. No question about it," Trump told Agence France-Presse.
"Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital-V military victory," Hegseth said during an April 8 Pentagon press conference.
"Epic Fury decimated Iran's military and rendered it combat-ineffective for years to come."
Fact Check: The war was a strategic setback for the United States
However, calling it a "total victory" overlooks significant strategic setbacks for the US.
Despite losing many of its top leaders, Iran’s regime remains in charge and now exercises an unprecedented degree of control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Kelly A. Grieco, a senior fellow at The Stimson Center, a foreign-policy think tank, called this the most significant setback for the US.
"Even with the ceasefire, Iran has effectively established itself as gatekeeper of the strait," Grieco said. "That’s a fundamentally different status quo than existed before the conflict. It also gives Tehran a durable form of economic leverage."
According to Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former adviser on the Middle East to Republican and Democratic secretaries of state, stocks of highly enriched uranium, a cornerstone of Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions, are still under Iranian control.
"If the war stopped tomorrow, this constitutes a historic strategic defeat for the US, especially when this was a war of choice," Miller said.
The war has also strained the relationship between the US and its NATO allies, who objected to not being consulted about the US-Israeli attacks.
Military leaders detail scope of ‘Operation Epic Fury’
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Dan Caine provided details about the objectives and execution of the operation, which he said was launched on February 28 following orders from the president.
“On February 28, @POTUS ordered the Joint Force to execute Operation Epic Fury with the direct direction to accomplish three distinct military objectives: destroy Iran's ballistic missile and drone capabilities, destroy the Iranian navy, and destroy their defense industrial base,” Caine said.
He described the operational environment as complex and unpredictable. “This is gritty and unforgiving business. It’s chaotic, it’s hot, it’s dark, it’s unpredictable, and there’s always unknowns, and our people proudly walked into those unknown and continued forward,” he said.
