US-Iran war updates: Hegseth refuses to confirm war’s end as airstrikes hit oil refineries across Middle East

That concludes another day of our rolling coverge on the war in the Middle East.

Thank you for sticking with us. Check back in tomorrow as we bring you more live updates.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth says President Donald Trump would not allow Iran to get “closer and closer” to developing nuclear capability, despite formerly claiming the country’s development capability was destroyed in June last year during the Twelve-Day War.

“What President Trump would not tolerate is a regime of that nature being closer and closer to nuclear capabilities, a capability they would have said they would want to use,” Hegseth said.

“We ought believe what our enemies say they would do if they got the most dangerous weapon in the world.

“I think the whole time, Iran sort of said, ‘Well, we’ll talk as we build more missiles and as we build more UAVs and we create this conventional umbrella so that, if we chose to, we could try to reconstitute the program,’ and sort of naively thinking that President Trump wouldn’t do something about it.”

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth says “it takes money to kill bad guys” when questioned about a $200 billion USD funding request from the Pentagon to the White House, which is about $285 billion in Australian dollars.

“So we’re going back to Congress and our folks there to, to ensure that we’re properly funded for what’s been done, for what we may have to do in the future, ensure that our ammunition is — everything’s refilled and not just refilled, but above and beyond,” Hegseth said.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth says the United States is implementing “countermeasures” to the regime-imposed internet blackout in Iran.

Refusing to give detail, Hegseth said the US is “(working) around that for sure”.

“Their own people can barely receive a lot of those messages and communicate because of the blackout that they’ve imposed upon them,” Hegseth said.

The US is working “to ensure that messaging is delivered, not just to the Iranian people writ large, but to the right audiences, certain audiences that need to hear certain things about what their fate might look like or what their choices are,” he said.

Pentagon Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine says US air forces are moving further east into Iran to “hunt and kill” attack drones.

Gen. Caine also says US AH-64 Apache attack helicopters have been deployed to the south of the country to locate and destroy drones.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says there is no current end date to the US-Israel conflict with Iran.

“It will be at the president’s choosing ultimately, where we say, hey, we’ve achieved what we need to on behalf of the American people to ensure our security,” he said.

“So no, no time set on that. But we’re very much on track.”

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says the United States has “struck 7,000 targets” in Iran since the war began.

The Secretary also says Iran’s navy is “no longer a factor” in the conflict, as the United States has purportedly destroyed 120 naval ships.

Hegseth then took aim at the higher ups of the Iranian military, labelling their roles as “temp jobs”.

“A regime like that, refusing to abandon its nuclear ambitions, is not just a regional problem, it’s a direct threat to America, to freedom and to civilisation,” Hegseth said.

“The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, and even segments of our own press should be saying one thing to President Trump — ‘thank you’.”

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says US objectives in the war against Iran are “on plan” and “unchanged” despite widespread criticism did not have a clear plan when entering the conflict.

Hegseth took aim at media representatives, accusing them of “wanting” US citizens to think “we’re somehow spinning towards an endless abyss, or a forever war, or a quagmire”.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. . . we’re winning decisively, and on our terms,” Hegseth said.

“Iran has funneled decades of state resources, not into their people, but into missiles and drones and proxies and buried facilities. But we are hunting them down.

“The results speak for themselves.”

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says he has spoken to the families of the six US service members who were killed when their refueling aircraft crashed above Iraq last week.

“(The families) said, finish this. Honour their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done,” Hegseth claimed.

“My response, along with that of the President (Donald Trump), was simple: of course we will finish this. We will honour their sacrifice.”

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth is currently speaking at a news briefing at the Pentagon, alongside the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.

More updates to follow.