{"id":112611,"date":"2026-03-02T08:11:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/?p=112611"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:11:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:11:05","slug":"us-defense-chief-hegseth-says-iran-was-building-shield-for-nuclear-ambitions-as-he-warns-against-nuclear-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/us-defense-chief-hegseth-says-iran-was-building-shield-for-nuclear-ambitions-as-he-warns-against-nuclear-weapons\/112611\/","title":{"rendered":"US Defense Chief Hegseth says Iran was building shield for nuclear ambitions as he warns against nuclear weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex flex-col text-sm pb-25\">\n<article class=\"text-token-text-primary w-full focus:outline-none [--shadow-height:45px] has-data-writing-block:pointer-events-none has-data-writing-block:-mt-(--shadow-height) has-data-writing-block:pt-(--shadow-height) [&:has([data-writing-block])>*]:pointer-events-auto scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]\" dir=\"auto\" data-turn-id=\"request-WEB:a4291387-247d-4957-b080-e37930be7d4c-7\" data-testid=\"conversation-turn-16\" data-scroll-anchor=\"true\" data-turn=\"assistant\">\n<div class=\"text-base my-auto mx-auto pb-10 [--thread-content-margin:--spacing(4)] @w-sm\/main:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(6)] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(16)] px-(--thread-content-margin)\">\n<div class=\"[--thread-content-max-width:40rem] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-max-width:48rem] mx-auto max-w-(--thread-content-max-width) flex-1 group\/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn\">\n<div class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col grow\">\n<div class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal [.text-message+&]:mt-1\" dir=\"auto\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\" data-message-id=\"c03547db-e730-444c-b8ee-e8f1cc3f51ea\" data-message-model-slug=\"gpt-5-2\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden first:pt-[1px]\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert w-full wrap-break-word dark markdown-new-styling\">\n<p data-start=\"116\" data-end=\"530\">US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reiterated that Iran is pursuing advanced military capabilities that he says could enable it to build nuclear weapons. In recent remarks, he strongly argued that regimes like Iran should not be allowed to develop such weapons and insisted that the recent conflict and US military action will prevent Tehran from realising these ambitions.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"532\" data-end=\"860\">Hegseth also commented on the nature of the current conflict, saying it is not aimed at regime change but rather at stopping threats posed by Iran\u2019s military and missile programme. His statements reflect deep US concern over Iran\u2019s military development and its potential nuclear capability.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"532\" data-end=\"860\">\n<h2 data-start=\"862\" data-end=\"909\">Hegseth warns Iran against nuclear weapons<\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"911\" data-end=\"1236\">Pete Hegseth said that the US will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, repeating a long-standing US position that Tehran\u2019s nuclear ambitions must be halted. He linked Iranian military threats to its broader weapons programmes and said forces would act to neutralise those threats.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1238\" data-end=\"1624\">Hegseth\u2019s comments come amid a major US-led aerial campaign that has struck Iranian military infrastructure, which US officials say includes above ground ballistic missile sites and command centres. He framed this operation as part of the effort to dismantle Iran\u2019s ability to harm the US or its allies and to prevent any future nuclear capability.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1238\" data-end=\"1624\">\n<h2 data-start=\"1626\" data-end=\"1676\">\u201cCrazy regimes\u201d can\u2019t have nuclear capability<\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1678\" data-end=\"2050\">In his statements, Hegseth used strong language about Iran\u2019s regime, saying that \u201ccrazy regimes\u201d like Iran should not be allowed to hold nuclear weapons. While he emphasised that the goal is not regime change, he also stressed that Tehran\u2019s refusal to negotiate or restrain its weapons programme has led to heightened military action.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2052\" data-end=\"2268\">These remarks reflect the US administration\u2019s justification for its military strategy and underline its focus on preventing Iran from ever realising a nuclear weapons capability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reiterated that Iran is pursuing advanced military capabilities that he says could enable it\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":112612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[35553,535,6167,35537,1523,34082,13193,33979,750,35552,35551],"class_list":["post-112611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-hegseth","tag-iran","tag-khamenei","tag-netanyau","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-tehran","tag-top-stories","tag-trump","tag-us-defense-chief","tag-us-defense-chief-hegseth"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112613,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112611\/revisions\/112613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}