Pete Hegseth echoes Trump's stance, says US will hit Iran 'hard'

He also said that US Central Command (US CENTCOM) would be "busy" as Trump has directed a hard stance against Iran, adding that Tehran still has an opportunity to reach a "good" or "great" deal but has so far failed to meet commitments.

Speaking to the reporters outside of US CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, Florida, Hegseth said, "Central Command will be busy tonight because President Trump said we will be hitting Iran hard, and we will be, because Iran has a chance to make a good deal, a great deal, to codify what they said they've been willing to do and they haven't been willing to do it."

"As President Trump said, they've been tap, tap, tapping, you can see when someone's trying to tap, tap, tap on a deal. Instead, they're going to have tap, tap, tap bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the United States of America," he further said.

Earlier, Trump said that the United States would resume attacks on Iran, as he voiced frustration over Tehran's delays in concluding the deal with Washington.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said, "We're going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard."

He suggested that Iran's downing of a US Apache helicopter provided grounds for renewed military action. "Based on the helicopter, I guess we have the right to do that," he told reporters.

Trump said the US had already launched strikes and would continue military operations against Iran. "We hit them hard yesterday. We're going to hit them again hard today, in case you miss it, in case you don't turn on your television set, and we'll see what happens with the deal," he said.

At the same time, Trump insisted that a deal with Iran had already been negotiated and only awaited Tehran's approval. "All they have to do is they have to start signing a paper. It's fully negotiated," he said. (ANI)