President Donald Trump addressed the operation to remove a “sick and sinister regime” in Iran at the top of his Medal of Honor ceremony Monday morning, laying out three main objectives.

The U.S. military aims to destroy Iran’s “missile capabilities” and its “capacity to produce brand-new ones;” to “annihilate” Iran’s navy; and to ensure “that the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon," the president said.

Trump noted that the U.S. has already sunk 10 Iranian ships.

The operation could last as long as four to five weeks, but Trump said he is also prepared to go “far longer than that."

A review of satellite imagery, verified videos and U.S. military statements by the New York Times shows Iranian missiles and drone strikes have hit at least six U.S. military installations in the Middle East since the U.S. and Israel began attacking the country Saturday.

At least four service members were killed and another four seriously wounded in a strike at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Two other strikes have been reported in the country, with additional Iranian strikes in Bahrain, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.

President Donald Trump said Sunday there will “likely be more” American deaths to come.

“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” he said. “That’s the way it is; likely be more. But we’ll do everything possible where that won’t be the case.”

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French President Emmanuel Macron said he will allow the temporary deployment of France’s nuclear-armed aircraft to allied European countries amid rising efforts to encourage security independence within the region.

Macron, speaking from a military base in northwestern France, said they will not share decision-making with any other nation regarding the use of the nuclear weapons but will make them available as part of its new nuclear strategy, according to the Associated Press.

Discussions about potential arrangements have already started with Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark, said Macron, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces under the French constitution.

“To be free, one needs to be feared,” he said.

France’s allies will also be allowed to participate in deterrence exercises, he said.

Efforts to strengthen security come amid concerns that the U.S. may not defend Europe in the event of a threat. For decades, this protection has been assured under the so-called “nuclear umbrella” policy, in which a nuclear-armed country pledges to defend its non-nuclear allies.

President Donald Trump said he would send U.S. troops to Iran "if they were necessary."

"I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, 'There will be no boots on the ground.' I don’t say it," Trump told the New York Post on Monday. "I say 'probably don’t need them,' [or] 'if they were necessary.'"

Even though Trump previously said the war could last about four weeks, he told the New York Post that it's "ahead of schedule."

"It’s going to go pretty quickly," he said. "We’re right on schedule, way ahead of schedule in terms of leadership — 49 killed — and that was, you know, going to take, we figured, at least four weeks, and we did it in one day."

A man convicted for participating in the 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol shared a photo of himself attending Monday morning’s press conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, while marveling at what a difference five years makes.

Brandon Straka, who dodged jail time for his actions by providing information to the FBI and expressing deep remorse, shared a photo of himself standing with a “press” badge ahead of Hegseth’s briefing at the Pentagon.

Straka called it “unbelievable” when asked by another X user about what a difference five years makes.

Straka was sentenced in 2022 to probation and home detention for his participation in the events, which he later called “one of the stupidest and tragic decisions" of his life.

Straka is reportedly part of a MAGA media “press corps” that was created by Hegseth last fall. These members do relatively little actual reporting and were unable to ask Hegseth questions during Monday’s briefing, according to CNN media analyst Brian Stelter.

A Jan. 6 rioter, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, says he is at the Pentagon for Hegseth’s briefing. https://t.co/ACqYxher1q

In a phone interview with CNN's Jake Tapper Monday morning, President Donald Trump said the U.S. is not ready to back down from its military operation against Iran, saying there's more to come.

“We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon," Trump said without offering any further details on his plans.

Trump told Tapper the operation is "going very well" so far, despite the fact that four U.S. service members have died as a result of the incursion.

"We’ve got the greatest military in the world, and we’re using it," he said.

But Trump noted he doesn't want the war to "go on too long."

"I always thought it would be four weeks. And we’re a little ahead of schedule," he claimed.

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Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison told investors the company plans to merge Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streaming service, assuming the company’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery proceeds after rival bidder Netflix dropped out.

“As we said, we do plan to put the two services together, which today gives us a little over 200 million direct to consumer subscribers,” Ellison said on a call with investors, according to Variety. “At Paramount, by the middle of this year, we’ll have completed the consolidation of our three services under one unified stack, and you can see us taking a similar approach to this platform going forward.”

The media mega-merger would put several prominent news and entertainment properties, including CBS, CNN and HBO, under Ellison's purview. Ellison’s father Larry Ellison is a close ally of President Donald Trump and has signaled a desire to shift the networks’ programming to favor conservative causes.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that France will increase the size of its nuclear arsenal due to rising geopolitical risks.

“My responsibility is to ensure that our deterrence maintains — and will maintain in the future — its assured destructive power,” he said at a military base that hosts the country’s ballistic missile submarines, according to The Associated Press.

France is the only nuclear power in the European Union.

Macron did not specify an amount. Any increase would be the country’s first since at least 1992.

"We are currently experiencing a period of geopolitical upheaval fraught with risk," said Macron, according to Reuters.

France has an estimated 290 nuclear warheads, making it the world’s fourth-largest nuclear power, behind Russia, the U.S. and China, according to the latest count by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).

Russia has an estimated 4,309 in its reserves, while the U.S. has 3,700, and China 600.

There are rising concerns among members of the Trump administration and inside the Pentagon that the U.S. attack on Iran may spiral out of control and dangerously deplete U.S. air defense stockpiles, The Washington Post reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

“The mood here is intense and paranoid,” one person told the outlet.

“There is concern about this lasting more than a few days,” said another person. “I don’t think people have fully absorbed yet, like, what that has done with stockpiles.”  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday said the war inside Iran could last up to six weeks. This estimation follows Trump, who earlier told the Daily Mail that “it’ll take four weeks - or less.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeated President Donald Trump’s warning that more American troops will likely be killed during combat operations with Iran, but vowed that the U.S. would not get bogged down by a forever war in the region.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. is “paying attention” to any potential attacks by Iranian agents in the U.S. in the wake of the Iranian invasion, while dismissing threat concerns.

"This is a former regime, a regime that seeks to export that ideology and try to sow terror," he said when asked by a reporter about the threat of “sleeper cells.”

“We’re ready for that,” he said. “We’ve seen these types of folks before and the American people can rest assured that we’re vigilant on that.”

He added that a shooting in Austin, Texas, on Sunday that authorities have said they are investigating as having a “potential nexus to terrorism” has no impact on its operations.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday dismissed what he called a "gotcha question" about how long the U.S. war against Iran will last.

"President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take — four weeks, two weeks, six weeks," Hegseth said at a press briefing. "It could move up. It could move back. We're going to execute at his command."

Trump has given shifting answers for the length of the massive U.S. combat operation, including four or five weeks.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegesth said there are currently no U.S. boots on the ground in Iran but said there was no reason for him to share the administration's future plans as it continues its military operation against the country.

"President Trump ensures that our enemies understand we'll go as far as we need to go to advance American interests. But we're not dumb about it. You don't have to roll 200,000 people in there and stay for 20 years. We've proven that you can achieve objectives that advance American interests without being foolish about it," he said.

Hegseth added that the administration has spent months planning the operation and its intended effects but said it would be unwise to share it with reporters and anyone else monitoring his remarks.

"Why in the world would we tell you, you, the enemy, anybody, what we will or will not do in pursuit of an objective? We fight to win. We fight to achieve the objectives the president of the United States has laid out, and we will do so unapologetically," he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rejected comparisons between the toppling of Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the U.S.-led Iraq War, which resulted in a prolonged occupation and the deaths of thousands of American troops.

"To the media outlets and political left screaming endless wars, stop. This is not Iraq. This is not endless. I was there for both,” he said at Monday’s press briefing. “Our generation knows better, and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation-building wars dumb, and he's right. This is the opposite. This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission: destroy the missile threat, destroy the Navy, no nukes."

Pete Hegseth telling the media:Iran is NOT another endless forever war.“Stop. This is not Iraq, this is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better, and so does this president! He called the last 20 years of nation-building wars dumb. And he’s right.” pic.twitter.com/58NEfKsy15

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in his first public remarks since the U.S. military began attacking Iran early Saturday, on Monday offered zero guidance as to how long the war would last.

"We will finish this on America First conditions of President Trump's choosing, nobody else's, as it should be," the former Fox News host told reporters during a Pentagon briefing.

Hegseth again repeated his ahistorical claim that the bombing and missile campaign was "the most lethal, most complex and most precise aerial operation in history" — apparently forgetting or not knowing about the deadly firebombing of cities like Dresden, Germany, or Tokyo, Japan, during World War II, not to mention the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki using atomic bombs.

He, like Trump, said more American service members would die beyond the four who have been lost already. "As the president warned, an effort of this scope will include casualties. War is hell, and always will be. A grateful nation honors the four Americans we have lost thus far and those injured," he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the U.S. military operation against Iran is not aimed at regime change but appeared to welcome the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose killing has prompted fresh questions about who will replace him.

"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.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is holding a press conference justifying the U.S. military operation in Iran, shortly after the U.S. Central Command confirmed four U.S. service members have lost their lives as a result of the action.

"President Trump has also been very consistent. Crazy regimes like Iran, hell-bent on prophetic Islamist delusions, cannot have nuclear weapons. It's common sense. Many have said it, but it takes guts to actually enforce it, and our president has guts," Hegseth said.

A fourth U.S. service member has been in the U.S. military operation against Iran, U.S. Central Command announced on Monday.

"The fourth service member, who was seriously wounded during Iran’s initial attacks, eventually succumbed to their injuries," the statement reads. "Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing."

On Sunday, the U.S. military said three troops were killed and another five were seriously injured in the operation that started early Saturday. Those service members were killed in a base in Kuwait, two unnamed U.S. officials told Reuters.

Trump has also braced Americans for more casualties as the expanding conflict presses on.

U.S. Central Command has so far not released the names of the troops who were killed as they work to notify their families.

CENTCOM Update TAMPA, Fla. – As of 7:30 am ET, March 2, four U.S. service members have been killed in action. The fourth service member, who was seriously wounded during Iran’s initial attacks, eventually succumbed to their injuries. Major combat operations continue and our…

A grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is likely to figure prominently in the deliberations of the clerics who will determine who replaces Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader.

The killing of Khamenei, 86, in a U.S.-Israeli attack has brought new urgency to the question of who will be the next Supreme Leader, a long-simmering issue over which there had been no clarity despite his age.

Hassan Khomeini is the most visible of the late Ayatollah’s 15 grandchildren and is seen as a relative moderate within Iran’s clerical establishment.

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United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on Monday said there's no evidence that Iran's nuclear sites were hit or damaged by the latest U.S.-Israeli attacks.

"Regarding the status of the nuclear installations in Iran, up to now, we have no indication that any of the nuclear installations, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Tehran Research Reactor or other nuclear fuel cycle facilities have been damaged or hit," Grossi said, per CNN.

"No elevation of radiation levels above the usual background levels has been detected in countries bordering Iran,” he added.

Grossi's comments follow a statement to the International Atomic Energy Agency from Iran's ambassador, who said the country's Natanz nuclear facility had been struck, Reuters noted.

Travel shares tumbled on Monday as escalating conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran disrupted flights worldwide, forced the closure of key Middle Eastern hubs and sent oil prices surging, with analysts warning of weeks of disruption.

Dubai, the world’s busiest international hub, and Doha remained shut for a third day, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded as aviation faced its biggest challenge since the COVID pandemic. Jordan on Monday became the latest country in the region to partially close its airspace.

Read more at Reuters:

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