The massive U.S.-Israeli air strikes, which have killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, entered a third day on Monday.
The Israeli military said it launched “large-scale strikes” on Tehran on Monday after Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) launched the ninth wave of its operation, targeting U.S. military assets across the Middle East.
Retaliation And Claims
The IRGC claimed it had targeted the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, but the Pentagon said the “missiles launched didn’t even come close.”
Iran’s retaliatory attacks took their toll. The Pentagon said that three U.S. service members have been killed and five seriously wounded in the U.S. operation against Iran.
Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the U.S. service members were killed on a base in Kuwait.
Trump Outlines Timeline
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. operations “will continue until all of our objectives are achieved. We have very strong objectives” in a six-minute video message on Truth Social, without specifying what the objectives are.
Trump said 48 senior Iranian officials have been killed in the operation and the U.S. forces have sunk nine Iranian warships and largely destroyed Iran’s navy headquarters.
As for the death of U.S. service members, the first casualties of his second term, Trump said of the possibility of more U.S. casualties, “that’s the way it is.”
In an exclusive phone interview with Britain’s Daily Mail, Trump said the military strike against Iran will take four weeks.
“It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so. It’s always been about a four-week process so – as strong as it is, it’s a big country, it’ll take four weeks – or less,”
In another interview with The Atlantic magazine on Sunday, Trump said Iran’s new leadership wanted to talk to him and that he has agreed.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They waited too long,”
The U.S. military expanded targets across Iran on Sunday and said it destroyed the headquarters of the IRGC.
