Live updates: Pete Hegseth insists Iran’s nuclear program was ‘decimated’ as Ayatollah downplays strike impact

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth launches a blistering attack on the media and defends ‘historically successful’ US strikes as Iran’s Ali Khamenei threatens to hit American bases ‘whenever it deems necessary’.

Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and Ali Khamenei. Pictures:AP/AFP

Welcome to The Australian’s live coverage of the NATO summit and the conflict in the Middle East.

Here is what we know:

• Donald Trump says the US will hold talks with Iran next week, though he believes a nuclear agreement is no longer necessary

• Mr Trump continues to insist that Iranian nuclear sites were “obliterated” by US strikes and repeatedly attacks media outlets for reporting on a leaked Pentagon report suggesting Tehran’s nuclear program had only been set back by a few months

• The FBI has begun a probe into how the intelligence was made public

• NATO allies agree to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035