US Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has warned American forces will conduct the most intense day of strikes against Iran since the conflict began and promised the war would not become open-ended.
He said the conflict, which started on February 28, is pushing Gulf countries closer to the US and that Iran is now fighting alone.
Tuesday would mark “our most intense day of strikes inside Iran: the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes”, Mr Hegseth told a media conference at the Pentagon. US Central Command officials did not immediately respond to a query about whether they would provide a tally of strikes.
Gen Dan Caine, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US has struck more than 5,000 targets across Iran since Operation Epic Fury began.
“US Strategic Command bombers recently dropped dozens of 2,000-pound GPS penetrating weapons on deeply buried missile launchers across the southern flank,” he said.
But even as the US promises an unrelenting tempo of strikes against Iran and says it has the resolve to outlast the Iranian military, President Donald Trump and his officials are working to assure Americans that the war will not drag on.
“This is not endless, it’s not protracted,” Mr Hegseth said. “We’re not allowing mission creep. The President has set a very specific mission to accomplish and our job is to unrelentingly deliver that.” He said Iran is now fighting alone and is “losing badly”.
“We are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives,” leaving Iran “desperate and scrambling”.
The gung-ho assurances were not enough to persuade many Democrats that the war is going to de-escalate soon.
Senator Richard Blumenthal emerged from a closed-door briefing about Iran on Tuesday and said he was “dissatisfied” with what he had heard.
He said the US was “on a path towards deploying American troops on the ground in Iran” to fight in what he called a “war of choice”.
About 140 American soldiers have been wounded in the conflict so far, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
"The vast majority of these injuries have been minor and 108 service members have already returned to duty," he said.
Eight soldiers are "severely injured", the statement added. Seven US soldiers have been killed since the war began and one more died from a medical condition.
Gulf countries
Mr Hegseth also said Iran's targeting of Gulf countries is pushing them to deeper connections with the US. “So you’re pushing those countries in our direction to support this effort, further alienating Iran,” he said.
“I see in the media banners that say the war is expanding … it’s actually the opposite. It’s actually quite contained,” he said. “More allies, more of those countries are coming on side, recognising that you can’t live under a conventional umbrella with nuclear ambitions, with a radical regime like that.”
Gen Caine said the US was striking Iranian mine-laying vessels and had already hit more than 50. He added that the Pentagon would look at several options if it had to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
The war has effectively shut the vital waterway, a chokepoint for global oil and liquefied natural gas transport, leaving tankers unable to sail for more than a week and forcing producers to halt pumping as storage fills.
“I think they're fighting and I respect that, but I don't think they're more formidable than what we thought,” Gen Caine said.
Mr Trump on Monday threatened to escalate the war with Iran if it blocked oil shipments from the Middle East, even as he predicted a rapid end to the conflict.
