Trump says strikes on Iran could take weeks as U.S. urges Americans to leave the region

by Anthony Faiola and Amy B Wang

What to know

• U.S. asks citizens to leave Middle East: The State Department on Monday urged Americans in more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries and territories to “DEPART NOW” due to “serious safety risks,” listing Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

• U.S. fighter jets downed: Three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagles went down Monday local time over Kuwait after being fired upon mistakenly by that country’s air defenses, U.S. Central Command said. All six crew members “ejected safely,” were recovered and were in stable condition.

• Hegseth speaks: Three days after the United States and Israel began their assault on Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed in a news conference: “we didn’t start this war, but under President Trump we are finishing it.” Trump has called upon Iranians to bring down their government, weakened by U.S. strikes, but Hegseth also insisted that “this is not a so-called regime change war.” He dismissed critiques over the start of another “endless war,” but he would not set a time frame or rule out ground troops to complete the U.S. objectives of crushing Iran’s military power and ending its nuclear program, saying that “our ambitions are not utopian; they are realistic.”

• Israel strikes back at Hezbollah: The conflict zone expanded into Lebanon after Hezbollah initiated a rocket-and-drone attack on Israel. Israel struck the group’s stronghold in Beirut and targeted weapons storage facilities and other infrastructure, the Israeli military said.

• U.S. service members killed: The number of U.S. troops killed in the operations against Iran rose to six, after the bodies of two additional service members who were previously unaccounted for were discovered Monday, according to U.S. Central Command. Earlier Monday, another U.S. service member died of injuries suffered in the initial Iranian attacks. Two U.S. officials had told The Washington Post that three previously reported fatalities were members of a sustainment unit in Kuwait.

• Interim leadership in Iran: Iran announced Sunday that an interim leadership council was in place after the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran faces an opaque, fraught process — one complicated by the deaths of many senior officials in the initial attack and the ongoing operation — to select a new leader.

• Iran reports more than 500 dead: Iran’s state broadcaster reported 555 killed in the ongoing airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel, citing figures from the Iranian Red Crescent Society. The Post could not independently verify the toll. The U.S. said Monday that it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Iran, and Israel said it had struck more than 600.