The war in the Middle East expanded on Monday as the United States and Israel continued to hit targets across Iran. Tehran, under the leadership of an interim council after earlier U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fired back at targets across the region. Iranian attacks were reported in Israel and eight other countries: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
President Trump, who campaigned on an “America First” agenda and promised to stop wars rather than start them, defended his decision to strike Iran now, arguing that the Khamenei regime continued to pursue nuclear weapons, was growing its ballistic missile program and would “soon” have had missiles capable of reaching America.
Experts said such a threat to the U.S. homeland was far from imminent.
“This was our last best chance to strike, what we’re doing right now, and eliminate the intolerable threats imposed by this sick and sinister regime,” Trump said in remarks before a White House Medal of Honor ceremony.
Trump laid out several objectives for the war, saying it aims to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities and navy, ensure that Tehran cannot have a nuclear weapon and prevent the Iranian government from continuing to fund, arm and direct terrorists. Trump did not specify regime change as a goal, though in remarks this weekend he encouraged Iranians to rise up and overthrow the theocratic government that took power in a 1979 revolution.
Trump also said that the military had projected that the operation could take four to five weeks, but that it was already “substantially ahead” of those projections. He added that “we have capability to go far longer” if needed. “Whatever the time is, it’s OK,” Trump said. “Whatever it takes.”
Trump earlier told the New York Post that he’s not ruling out sending U.S. ground troops “if they were necessary.” He told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday morning that the U.S. military is “knocking the crap” out of Iran but that the “big wave” of attacks is still to come. “The big one is coming soon,” he reportedly said.
In a separate morning news briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted that objectives are clear: to destroy Iran’s missile threat and its navy and ensure it does not get nuclear weapons. “This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it,” Hegseth said.
He insisted that, while the war would continue as long as Trump deems it necessary, the United States was not about to get mired in another protracted conflict or nation-building exercise. “This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers, told reporters that the U.S. attack was meant to prevent Iran from developing weapons that would safeguard its nuclear program.
“What they are trying to do, and have been trying to do for a very long time, is build a conventional weapons capability as a shield where they can hide behind,” Rubio said. “Meaning there will come a point where they have so many conventional missiles, so many drones and can inflict so much damage that no one can do anything about their nuclear program.”
Most Americans disapprove of attack: A new CNN poll conducted on Saturday and Sunday after the initial strikes against Iran finds that 59% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s decision to attack, 60% say the president does not have a clear plan for handling the situation and 56% believe that a long-term military conflict between the U.S. and Iran is at least somewhat likely.
U.S. death toll rises: Six U.S. servicemembers have been killed so far and 18 have been wounded, according to the Pentagon. Both Trump and military leaders warned that additional casualties are likely. Three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses, but all six crew members ejected safely, the Defense Department said Monday.