WASHINGTON, March 2. /TASS/. The joint US-Israeli operation against Iran will not become another American "endless war," Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.
"To the media outlets and political left screaming ‘endless war’, stop. This is not Iraq. This is not endless," he told a press conference.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine noted at the same press conference that the campaign is not a short one either. "First, to be clear, as the Secretary said, this is not a single overnight operation. The military objectives <...> will take some time to achieve, and in some cases, will be difficult and gritty," he said. He also warned that US forces "expect to take additional losses."
The United States and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. At the same time, US leadership openly called on the Iranian population to rise up against their government and seize power.
As a result of the strikes, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other senior figures in the leadership of the Islamic Republic were killed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel.