WASHINGTON: The United States vowed on Wednesday to continue its war against Iran for “as long as needed,” as fighting spread across the Middle East, oil prices climbed, and global markets tumbled.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington was “winning, decisively” and had the capacity to sustain the conflict.
“Our air defences and that of our allies have plenty of runway. We can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need to,” Hegseth told a press conference at the Pentagon. He declined to set a timeline for the campaign.
“You can say four weeks, but it could be six, it could be eight, it could be three,” he said.
“Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo. The enemy is off balance, and we’re going to keep them off balance.”
Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said the campaign could last four to five weeks but was prepared “to go far longer than that”.
US expands military operations
Hegseth said additional US forces, including fighter jets and bombers, were arriving in the region.
He said the United States had spared “no expense or capability” to bolster air defences.
“This does not mean we can stop everything,” he said, acknowledging that some Iranian missile and drone attacks could still cause damage.
General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said US service members “remain in harm’s way” and warned that risks were high.
The US military has confirmed six American deaths so far. Four of those killed were identified as Capt. Cody A. Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, assigned to the Iowa-based 103rd Sustainment Command.
Six soldiers were killed on Sunday when an Iranian drone strike hit an operations centre at a civilian port in Kuwait, US officials said.
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, said more than 50,000 troops, 200 jets and two aircraft carriers were engaged in “24/7 strikes into Iran from seabed to space and cyberspace”.
Nearly 2,000 targets inside Iran had been hit since Saturday, he said.
Seventeen Iranian ships, including a submarine, were destroyed and air defences severely degraded.
“There is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman,” Cooper said in a video posted online.
He said Iran had launched more than 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones in retaliation.
U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are delivering unrelenting, overwhelming firepower from regional waters. DAY and NIGHT. pic.twitter.com/3YTiFkFc1V
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 3, 2026
US submarine sinks Iranian warship
Hegseth also confirmed that a US submarine had torpedoed and sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” he said, calling it the first US sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since World War II.
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that 32 crew members from the frigate IRIS Dena had been rescued after it issued a distress call about 40 kilometres south of Galle.
Sri Lankan authorities said 148 sailors remained missing and hopes of further rescues were fading.
“We are keeping up a search, but we don’t know yet what happened to the rest of the crew,” a Sri Lankan defence official told AFP.
Iran rejects negotiations
Meanwhile, Tehran ruled out any talks with Washington.
Mohammad Mokhber, a senior adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told state television that Iran had “no trust in the Americans and we have no basis for any negotiations with them”.
“We can continue the war as long as we want,” he said.
Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Trump of betraying diplomacy.
“When complex nuclear negotiations are treated like a real estate transaction, and when big lies cloud realities, unrealistic expectations can never be met,” Araghchi wrote on X.
On Tuesday, Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani also said Tehran would not negotiate.
The Assembly of Experts is expected to name a successor to Khamenei, who was killed in the US-Israeli strikes on Saturday.
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said candidates had been identified and a decision would be announced soon.
Israel intensifies strikes
Israel said it was continuing strikes across Iran for a fifth day.
The Israeli military said it had shot down an Iranian Yak-130 fighter jet over Tehran using an F-35I aircraft.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said dozens of missile launchers had been destroyed but warned that Iran still retained “significant capacity”.
“Our defence is not impenetrable,” he said.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that any new Iranian leader would be “an unequivocal target for elimination” if he pursued policies aimed at destroying Israel.
In Israel, air raid sirens sounded as Iranian missiles were intercepted. A woman in Tel Aviv was mildly injured, authorities said.
Iran said a strike on a school in Minab killed more than 150 people. The toll could not be independently verified.
The Iranian Red Crescent said 787 people had been killed in Iran as of Tuesday.
Regional spillover
The conflict has spilled across the Gulf.
Iranian drones struck near the US consulate in Dubai, starting a small fire, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
The United Arab Emirates said it had intercepted the majority of more than 1,000 Iranian missiles and drones.
Kuwait’s army said it intercepted “several hostile aerial targets” over its airspace.
Qatar said it downed missiles targeting Hamad International Airport. Oman reported drone attacks on the port of Duqm.
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes killed at least 52 people, according to the government.
The United Nations said more than 30,000 people had been displaced in Lebanon.
Iran controls Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had “complete control” of the Strait of Hormuz and warned vessels not to transit the waterway.
Oil prices climbed for a third straight day, with Brent crude trading at $83.76 a barrel.
Trump said the US Navy was prepared to escort oil tankers if necessary, though shipping analysts questioned how practical that would be.
Qatar has shut liquefied natural gas production and Iraq has scaled back oil output, raising fears of a prolonged energy shock.
Asian markets plunged, including a record fall in Seoul, as investors feared sustained high oil prices and delayed interest rate cuts.
Even safe-haven gold fell sharply before rebounding.
Russia accused Washington of using an “imaginary” Iranian threat as a pretext for regime change.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said US calls for Iranians to seize power were “cynical and inhumane”.
China and Russia have criticised the US-Israeli campaign.
