Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, said the Islamic Republic must decide as soon as possible whether it wants to give up its nuclear ambitions in negotiations or face a destructive attack by the United States.

Hegseth, during a trip to Knoxville in the state of Tennessee, said: “President Trump is prepared to confront the threat that Iran and its nuclear ambitions have posed for generations.”

He added: “Iran must decide very quickly; either at the negotiating table it gives up these ambitions or it will face that kind of devastation that America is capable of causing.”

In another part of his remarks, Hegseth said that if an institution were to receive the Nobel Peace Prize every year, that institution would be the US Army.

He also, while criticizing the previous US government’s performance regarding the war in Ukraine, the October 7 attack, and the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, said Donald Trump has announced that he will not allow the decline of the United States.