WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will hold a news conference on Monday about the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.
The briefing will mark the first time since Saturday that the Trump administration holds a news briefing on the strikes and situation in Iran. President Donald Trump, while he’s conducted a few phone interviews with individual reporters, has not taken questions on camera and only released two videos since the operation began.
The briefing comes as the conflict has intensified into a wider war in the region. Iran and its allied armed groups have launched missiles at Israel, Arab states and U.S. military targets in the Middle East.
FILE – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at Mar-a-Lag, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Four American troops have been killed in action. Trump on Sunday predicted there would be more U.S. casualties.
The latest sign of the escalating upheaval came when U.S. ally Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets during a combat mission as Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones were attacking. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely from the American F-15E Strike Eagles and were in stable condition.
U.S. officials have not offered any exit plan or offered signs that the conflict would end anytime soon, and the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast doubt on the future of the Islamic Republic and hurtled the region into broader instability.
Trump, in an interview Sunday with The New York Times, said the assault could last “four to five weeks.”
The Republican president said the U.S. and Israel had struck hundreds of targets already. That included Israel and the U.S. bombing Iranian missile sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and multiple warships.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far by the U.S.-Israeli campaign. Eleven people have been killed in Israel and 31 in Lebanon, according to authorities there.
