Pete Heges, US Secretary of Defense (War Department) (Washington Reuters=Yonhap News)

Pete Heges, the US Secretary of Defense (War Department), stated on the 19th (local time) that while US forces did not attack Iran's South Pars gas field, all locations within Iran are within the range of US military strikes.

Speaking at a battlefield briefing at the Pentagon near Washington D.C. alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Kain, Secretary Heges said, "Iran has weaponized energy for decades."

Secretary Heges added, "Iran knows that we only struck military capabilities on Kharg Island."

On the 13th, US forces struck approximately 90 military facilities on Kharg Island, a key oil export base for Iran. Facilities directly related to oil exports were not targeted, and there have been no indications to date of the US military destroying Iran's energy infrastructure.

However, Secretary Heges emphasized, "We have everything within range of attack, and the US military can determine the fate of that country."

He further stated, "Iran should not cause suffering by attacking its Arab allies or Arab nations in the future," adding, "Iran has the capacity to make the right choices."

The attack on Iran's South Pars gas field was carried out by the Israeli military, and in retaliation, Iran attacked the energy infrastructure of Gulf countries, including Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.

This is in line with President Donald Trump's warning that if Iran continues to attack the energy infrastructure of Gulf countries, the US military may also launch a full-scale strike on Iran's energy infrastructure.

Secretary Heges pointed to media outlets critical of the Trump administration's conduct of the war, stating, "They want to make us think that just 19 days into this conflict, we are stumbling into a somewhat endless abyss, an eternal war, or a quagmire."

He continued, "Nothing could be further from the truth," and asserted, "While I don't want to set a definitive timeline (for the duration of the war), we are proceeding according to plan."

Secretary Heges reiterated that the objectives of this war are "exactly the same" as at the outset, stating, "To destroy missile launchers and Iran's defense industry base, rendering them irreparable, to destroy their navy, and to ensure Iran never possesses nuclear weapons."

However, he did not provide a clear answer to the question of how the objective of removing nuclear materials would be achieved without falling into a "quagmire."

Secretary Heges explained that US forces have so far struck over 7,000 targets, resulting in a 90% reduction in Iran's ballistic missile and one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks, respectively.

He also stated that over 120 Iranian naval vessels, 44 mine-laying ships, and 11 submarines have been lost.

He remarked, "The job nobody in the world would want right now is to be a high-ranking leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or the Basij. They are all temporary."

This remark referred to the elimination of key figures in the Iranian regime, such as Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, Commander of the Basij militia.