U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided an update this morning on Operation Epic Furey – the U.S. military campaign against Iran and its Islamist regime.

More American troops are now heading to the Middle East, and the Red Crescent is reporting that some 500 Iranians have been killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes.

Hegseth told reporters tis morning that the United States had to act decisively after failing to gain any ground in negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program.

“The mission of Operation Epic Furey is laser-focused” says Hegseth. “Destroy Iran offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missle production, destroy their navy and other security infrastructure, and they will never have nuclear weapons. We’re hitting them surgically, overwhelmingly and unapologetically.”

Oil prices are surging – up by 10 per cent – as a result of the military action, and natural gas prices were up by close to 50 per cent on Monday after QatarEnergy halted production following hits on its facilities.

At least four U.S. service members have been killed in retaliatory attacks, with more seriously wounded, and U.S. President Donald Trump has warned “there will likely be more” U.S. deaths as a result of the ongoing strikes.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire in Lebanon as military action in the Middle East expands.

U.S. prepared to go ‘far longer’ than four to five weeks says President

Suggesting they’ll do whatever it takes, U.S. President Donald Trump says the American military expects a four to five week campaign against Iran but is prepared to go far longer if necessary.

The U.S. and Israel launched air strikes on Iran on the weekend, sparking a war in the Middle East and resulting in casualties – both U.S. and Iranian.

President Trump says “this was our last best chance to strike” and says the Islamic regime in Iran posed a direct threat to the United States and U.S. forces abroad.

“The regime’s conventional ballistic missile program was growing rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas. The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe, and our bases both local and overseas and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America.”

Trump says they expected it would take a month to remove the Supreme Leader from power in Iran.

“We also projected four weeks to terminate the military leadership, and as you know that was done in about an hour, so we’re ahead of schedule there. By a lot.”