US Forces 'Ready' if Iran Ceasefire Ends, Top U.S. General Warns
General Dan Caine cautioned that the ceasefire is merely a pause and that US forces remain ready to resume strikes, as Defense Secretary Hegseth declared Iran's missile-building capacity fully eliminated and Trump threatened 50% tariffs on any country supplying weapons to Tehran.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The guns may have fallen silent, but Washington made clear on Wednesday that they remain loaded. As the Iran-US ceasefire took hold, America's top military and civilian defense officials stepped before cameras to deliver a message as much to Tehran as to the world: the pause is conditional, the force is intact, and the United States is watching.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, General Dan Caine, the top US general, offered a pointed characterization of the truce. "Let us be clear, a ceasefire is a pause, and the joint force remains ready, if ordered or called upon," he said. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reinforced the warning, stating that the United States stands "ready in the background to ensure that Iran upholds" the terms of the agreement.
Iran's defense industry 'completely' destroyed
Hegseth went further, declaring that the US military campaign had achieved one of its core objectives in full. "We finished completely destroying Iran's defense-industrial base, a core pillar of our mission," he told reporters. "They can no longer build missiles." The defense secretary said that missile launch platforms across Iran had been dismantled and that production facilities for sophisticated weaponry had been eliminated entirely — leaving Tehran without the capacity to reconstitute its arsenal in the near term.
Trump threatens 50% tariffs on Iran's weapons suppliers
President Donald Trump added an economic dimension to the pressure campaign, issuing a sweeping warning to any country considering supplying weapons to Iran. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared: "A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions."
In a separate post, Trump also revealed that his administration is engaged in discussions on tariff and sanctions relief with Iran — a signal that economic incentives, as well as economic threats, are being deployed as Washington and Tehran navigate the two-week window toward a broader agreement.