The American and Israeli air forces have a dominant advantage in the skies, but Iran can still muster some resistance.
The defense secretary has disparaged restrictive rules for opening fire that are aimed at reducing the risk of mistakes and civilian casualties.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bellicose and vengeful rhetoric describing the military’s war in Iran grew out of his experience in Iraq.
A majority of Senate Democrats called on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to carry out a “swift investigation” into the deadly attack on the first day of the war.
In the lead-up to the U.S.-Israeli attack, President Trump downplayed the risks to the energy markets as a short-term concern that should not overshadow the mission to decapitate the Iranian regime.
Trump administration officials cast the president as the sole arbiter on the U.S. war effort. International aid groups were warning of a growing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, where nearly 700,000 people had been displaced, the U.N. said.
Senate Democratic leaders called on President Trump to dispatch the senior cabinet officials to make the case to Congress and the American public for the war in Iran.
Iran appears to be targeting what it views as American vulnerabilities, including air defenses meant to guard troops and assets in the region.
Now 11 days into an expanding military campaign, President Trump and his officials have given conflicting indications on how long the United States intends the war to last.
Some residents described the strikes overnight Monday into Tuesday as among the worst they had experienced since the war started.