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Asked if there are currently any U.S. Boots on the ground in Iran, Hegseth says no.

He also said "it's foolishness" to go into detail about what it will and will not do.

"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."

Asked how long this operation is expected to last, Hegseth said he "would never hang a time frame" on this operation.

"It won't happen overnight. This is a big battle space."

Hegseth also acknowledged that Iran has long-range strike capabilities.

"Even before this build-up, in the last 30 days, we discreetly brought defensive assets in, understanding that there are Iranian capabilities."

U.S. Gen. Dan Caine, the ‌chairman of the ​Joint Chiefs of ​Staff, said ​it would take ⁠time ⁠to ‌achieve military objectives in Iran ⁠and additional U.S. Casualties were expected.

"We are now roughly 57 hours into the operation," he said. "This is not a single overnight operation," Caine said at the news conference.

Caine said ‌the U.S. Continues to ​send ⁠additional troops to ⁠Middle ⁠East ⁠even after ​a massive military ​buildup.

Hegseth said ​that military ​operations against Iran would not ​lead to ⁠an "endless ⁠war" ‌and that the aim was ⁠to destroy Tehran's missiles, navy ‌and other security infrastructure.

"We're hitting them surgically, ​overwhelmingly ⁠and unapologetically," he said.

"War is hell and always will be," Hegseth said, adding that the U.S. Will "finish this on America-first conditions."

Hegseth repeated what Trump has said: there will be U.S. Casualties in this operation.

"This is not a so-called regime change, but the regime sure did change," Hegseth said.

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is speaking now. You can watch the news conference in the video above.

I'm Crystal Goomansingh reporting from the central Israeli town of Beit Shemesh. Nine people were killed and 28 wounded here on Sunday, after an Iranian missile made a direct hit on a synagogue and shelter as people gathered during a security alert. 

Mourners at a funeral service at the site briefly had to take shelter again on Monday, as sirens sounded and explosions were heard. 

There are some religious study books mixed into the ground. We spoke to one of the search and rescue team members, who was in the area at the time of the attack. He described a scene of fire and chaos and a lot of people who needed help.  

He recorded a video on his phone that captured that massive boom when the missile struck. 

This location has also been visited today by a number of politicians, including the head of the opposition and Israeli President Isaac Herzog. They are expressing sympathy to the families in mourning for the lives already lost. The dead include a number of children.

Reuters

The Israeli ‌military says it ​carried out ⁠a ⁠strike ‌in Beirut that killed Hussein Makled, the ​head ⁠of ⁠Hezbollah's ⁠intelligence headquarters.

Hezbollah has not commented or confirmed the death at this time.

Four U.S. Service members have been killed in the days since the U.S. And Israel's widescale strikes against Iran began, U.S. Central Command said.

"The fourth service member, who was seriously wounded during Iran's initial attacks, eventually succumbed to their injuries," Centcom said in a brief statement.

Yesterday, the U.S. Military confirmed that three members had been killed and five were injured.

Dubai International is the world's busiest international airport — a crossroads between East and West where flights from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas connect in tight waves, moving around 90 million passengers a year.

Since Saturday, that machine has ground to a halt.

Dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones launched by Iran toward the United Arab Emirates have shut down UAE airspace, stranded tens of thousands of passengers and damaged both Dubai and Abu Dhabi's international airports. One person was killed in the attacks, according to UAE authorities.

Emirates, the airport's anchor airline and the largest international carrier in the world, has suspended operations, while airlines from London to Singapore have cancelled flights or taken long detours to avoid the region.

Planes and crews are now scattered across the globe, triggering knock-on delays far beyond the Gulf.

The fallout is spreading fast. Oil prices are up, airline stocks are down, and carriers are burning more fuel on longer routes. For a desert financial hub built on constant motion, the sky above free of planes makes for an eerie silence.

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