Hegseth: Iran Conflict Not Endless     03/03 06:03

   Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Monday to widening concerns that the 
U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran could spiral into a protracted regional conflict 
by declaring: "This is not Iraq. This is not endless," even as he warned that 
more American casualties are likely in the weeks ahead.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Monday to widening 
concerns that the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran could spiral into a protracted 
regional conflict by declaring: "This is not Iraq. This is not endless," even 
as he warned that more American casualties are likely in the weeks ahead.

   While the Trump administration has cited Iran's nuclear ambitions as the 
chief concern to be addressed, officials increasingly are pointing to the 
threat from Iran's ballistic missiles as a key reason to launch the attacks as 
well as an opportunity to take out the government's leadership and the sense 
that negotiations around the nuclear program have stalled.

   Trump said Monday that Iran's conventional missile program "was growing 
rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to 
America and our forces stationed overseas."

   Hegseth said at a separate press conference with Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of 
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the operation had a "decisive mission" to 
eliminate the threat of Iranian ballistic missiles, destroy the country's navy 
and ensure "no nukes."

   Trump, Hegseth and Caine have not suggested any exit plan or offered signs 
that the conflict would end anytime soon as the killing of Iranian Supreme 
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast doubt on the future of the Islamic Republic 
and hurtled the region into broader instability. Caine said the biggest U.S. 
military buildup in the Middle East in decades would only grow because the 
commander in the region "will receive additional forces even today."

   "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.

   Trump, however, in video statements released after the strikes began, urged 
the Iranian people "to take back your country."

   More American troop casualties expected

   The conflict has spilled into the wider region, with Iran and its allied 
armed groups launching missiles at Israel, Arab states and U.S. military 
targets in the Middle East.

   Six American troops have been killed, with Trump, Hegseth and Caine 
predicting more casualties. All were Army soldiers and part of the same 
logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized 
to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

   When asked about the six deaths Monday, Hegseth said an Iranian weapon made 
it past allied air defenses "and, in that particular case, happened to hit a 
tactical operations center that was fortified."

   Eighteen American service members also have been seriously wounded, said 
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.

   The latest sign of the escalating upheaval came when, the U.S. military 
said, ally Kuwait "mistakenly shot down" three American fighter jets during a 
combat mission as Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones were 
attacking. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely from the 
American F-15E Strike Eagles and were in stable condition.

   Asked if there are boots on the ground now in Iran, Hegseth said, "No, but 
we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do."

   He said it was "foolishness" to expect U.S. officials to say publicly 
"here's exactly how far we'll go."

   Trump told the New York Post on Monday that he wasn't ruling out U.S. forces 
in Iran if "they were necessary." He noted, "I don't have the yips with respect 
to boots on the ground."

   At the White House, Trump said the mission was expected to take four to five 
weeks but "we have the capability to go far longer than that."

   Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the Capitol that the U.S. 
"will do this as long as it takes to achieve" its objectives and warned that 
"the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military."

   Hegseth also dismissed questions about the time frame and said Trump had 
"latitude" to decide how long it would take. "Four weeks, two weeks, six 
weeks," he said. "It could move up. It could move back."

   Pentagon gives justification for strikes

   In laying out a case for the strikes, Hegseth did not point to any imminent 
nuclear threat from Iran and said again that strikes by the U.S. and Israel 
last June "obliterated their nuclear program to rubble."

   Instead, Hegseth pointed to threats from other weaponry that justified the 
operation: "Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a 
conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions."

   He added: "Our bases, our people, our allies, all in their crosshairs. Iran 
had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear 
bomb."

   Hegseth said that during negotiations leading up to the attack, Iranian 
officials were "stalling" despite having "every chance to make a peaceful and 
sensible deal."

   He also justified the operation by describing Iran's government as having 
started the conflict from its inception, declaring that for 47 years it has 
"waged a savage, one-sided war against America."

   In a private briefing Sunday, Trump administration officials told 
congressional staffers that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was 
preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S., three people familiar 
with the briefings said.

   Trump, a Republican, had said the objective of the mission was to eliminate 
"imminent threats from the Iranian regime." And senior Trump administration 
officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the 
condition of anonymity, told reporters Saturday that there were indicators that 
the Iranians could launch a preemptive attack.

   Military doesn't specify Iran's nuclear sites as targets

   As with the attack that dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on Iranian 
nuclear facilities last year, Caine said the military used B-2 stealth bombers 
in the new operation with a 37-hour round trip.

   He said the penetrating bombs were dropped on Iranian underground 
facilities" but did not specify that they were nuclear facilities. Nuclear 
sites were not among the types of targets on a list released over the weekend 
by U.S. Central Command.

   The administration says Israel and the U.S. have bombed Iranian missile 
sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and 
multiple warships.

   Caine on Monday referenced the use of cyber technologies, saying the U.S. 
"effectively disrupted communications and sensor networks" that left "the 
adversary without the ability to coordinate or respond effectively."

   Without giving specifics, Caine said the military "delivered synchronized 
and layered effects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran's 
ability to conduct and sustained combat operations on the U.S. side."

   Caine said Trump gave the go-ahead order for the strikes at 3:38 p.m. EST on 
Friday. That meant the president gave the green light when he was aboard Air 
Force One heading to Texas with Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and 
actor Dennis Quaid.