Defense Secretary Pete Heggestad (left) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain [AP=Yonhap News] 

U.S. Secretary of Defense (War Department) Pete Heggestad said on the 10th (local time), "Today will be another day of the most intense attacks on Iran."

This announcement of the highest intensity offensive by the U.S. military came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump stated at a press conference that the war would end "very quickly."

Speaking at a briefing on military operations against Iran with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain at the Pentagon on the same day, Heggestad stated, "Iran is isolated and is being decisively defeated on the tenth day of Operation 'Grand Fury.'"

He added, "There will be the most fighter jets, bombers, and airstrikes."

Heggestad also said, "Even some of Iran's neighboring countries and former allies in the Gulf region have abandoned Iran and their proxy forces, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas."

Furthermore, he emphasized that the objectives of the U.S. military operations are to destroy Iran's missile stockpiles and launchers, its defense industry base and missile manufacturing capabilities, its navy, and to permanently block its possession of nuclear weapons.

He explained that Iran's ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90% and its self-exploding drone attacks by 83% compared to the start of the war, and that over 50 Iranian warships have been eliminated in the past ten days.

In this regard, Chairman Cain said, "At this point, Iran's advanced surface-to-air missile systems are largely irrelevant," adding, "We can move fighter jets deeper into (Iran) with relatively little interference."

Chairman Cain stated, "They (Iran) are adapting (to the war situation), and so are we. We have very resourceful combatants on the ground," and "We are watching what they are doing."

Heggestad said, "We will not stop until the enemy is completely and decisively defeated," adding, "We will do so according to our timeline and our choices."

Regarding the duration of the military operations, he said, "We have not stated from the beginning how long this will take," and "Ultimately, it is the President who will determine the final state of those objectives."

However, he noted, "This is not an endless war. This is not a protracted war," and "The media describes it as 'war escalation' or 'war expansion,' but in reality, it is the opposite. It is actually quite limited."

Regarding civilian casualties from the war, Heggestad claimed, "No nation in the history of war has tried to avoid civilian casualties by all means like this. Unlike Iran, we do."

He criticized, "Iran attacks civilians indiscriminately. We have confirmed through intelligence that they place rocket launchers in civilian areas near schools and hospitals," and "Then they launch drones and missiles at civilian targets like hospitals, hotels, and airports. That is the way of a terrorist regime."

Indeed, residents of Tehran told the Associated Press that the most severe airstrikes since the start of the war were carried out, causing power outages in areas near the capital.

One resident reported that airstrikes continued for about 30 minutes near his residence.

An anonymous 27-year-old woman raising a baby witnessed residential buildings being hit by airstrikes and said that tens of thousands of Iranian residents had evacuated to rural areas to escape the airstrikes.

Meanwhile, when asked about media reports of Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, emerging, Heggestad replied, "His condition is not something I can comment on at this time."

Regarding reports that the United States expressed dissatisfaction with Israel's attack on Iran's fuel storage facilities, he said, "Israel is a very strong partner," adding, "They have pursued their objectives in areas where they have different goals."