After Hegseth used the press conference to lash out at the media that covered the leaked report from the Defense Intelligence Agency—which is part of the Defense Department, which Hegseth leads—Caine provided information about the crew and weapons involved in the Iran operation, dubbed “Midnight Hammer.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said leaker of initial intel assessment wanted to "make it look like this historic strike wasn't successful."

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear program over the weekend.

The Pentagon on Thursday released new details about how the US prepared for its marathon bombing mission against three Iranian nuclear sites, the crews that carried out the daring weekend raid, and how Iran tried fortifying one of the sites that held critical aspects of its nuclear program.

Pete Hegsth and Gen. Dan Caine touted the U.S. attack on a covert nuclear facility but sidestepped questions about the fate of Iran’s uranium stockpile.