Withdrawal of B-1 bombers shows how an under-armed Iran is keeping the United States in suspense

LONDON — In a speech to U.S. forces last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed President Donald Trump’s triumphant descriptions of Iran as a defeated enemy.

The United States “destroyed” Iran’s navy, air force, leadership and “entire defense base,” Hegseth said, crippling Tehran’s conventional capabilities and leaving its “shattered nuclear ambitions exposed to the world.”