US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that Washington is ready to resume military strikes on Iran if negotiators fail to clinch an agreement, Ada Derana reported on Saturday, citing Reuters.
“Our ability to recommence if necessary — we are more than capable,” Hegseth said in Singapore, where he was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier annual gathering of defence chiefs, military officers and diplomats. “Our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe, so we’re in a very good place.”
The Pentagon chief used the same address to push back on suggestions Washington’s Iran war has come at the cost of Indo-Pacific commitments. “We can do two things at one time,” he said. “We’re super-charging our defence industrial base so that we’re building 2X, 3X, 4X the munitions very soon to ensure that all of our (operations) plans are properly funded throughout the world.”
Hegseth said President Donald Trump remains “patient” and wants a “great deal” that ensures Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon. His remarks land a day after Trump entered the White House Situation Room for a “final determination” on a tentative outline reached on Thursday to extend an early-April truce by another 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has publicly disputed several of Trump’s added conditions, with Tehran insisting Hormuz be managed by Iran and Oman and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying any naval blockade would lift “slowly” if a deal holds.
The war launched by the US and Israel on February 28 has killed thousands, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and pushed global energy prices higher as Iran’s effective closure of Hormuz disrupted shipping. For Sri Lanka, which routes virtually all crude imports through the strait, the gap between Trump’s terms and Tehran’s red lines continues to drive the insurance and freight premiums squeezing the import bill.
Source: Ada Derana (Reuters).
