\u201cWe are just getting started. We are accelerating, not decelerating,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Devastation from the U.S. and Israeli campaigns continued to spread Wednesday across Iran, where columns of heavy smoke could be seen rising in the western and eastern parts of Tehran, according to the Associated Press. At least 1,097 civilians had been killed \u2014 including 181 children \u2014 and 5,402 more injured as of Tuesday, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, with Iranian state media reporting similar figures.<\/p>\n
Among the deadliest events was an airstrike that hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary girls\u2019 school in Minab on the first day of the war. During a United Nations Security Council meeting Monday, Iran\u2019s ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, condemned that attack and others that he said had occurred at schools, hospitals and in residential areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cHundreds of innocent civilians have lost their lives. Many more were wounded,\u201d he said, accusing the U.S. and Israel of \u201ccrimes against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hegseth said U.S. forces \u201cnever target civilian targets,\u201d but acknowledged the United States is investigating the strike on the school.<\/p>\n
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that American military operations had \u201cabsolutely crushed\u201d the Iranian government, with its leaders \u201cpaying in blood\u201d for terrorist violence they\u2019d backed in the past, including against the United States.<\/p>\n
Calling the operation so far a \u201cresounding success,\u201d she said the U.S. had destroyed 20 Iranian ships, killed 49 Iranian leaders, struck about 2,000 targets overall and destroyed \u201chundreds and hundreds\u201d of ballistic missiles and systems. <\/p>\n
She said the operation followed years of other U.S. presidents being \u201ctoo weak\u201d to act against Iran, and came after Iranian leaders \u201crefused to say yes to peace\u201d during negotiations to end its nuclear aspirations before the U.S. attacks, and after Trump developed a \u201cgood feeling\u201d that Iran was going to attack the U.S. and its personnel in the region.<\/p>\n
Help for stranded Americans<\/p>\n
Leavitt said the U.S. government is working to assist American citizens trying to flee the region and has already helped thousands get out. Asked whether the U.S. was responsible for the school strike, Leavitt said \u201cnot that we know of,\u201d before adding that the incident was under investigation.<\/p>\n
She said Trump is discussing with advisors any future role for the U.S. in Iran after its immediate goals are met. U.S. intelligence agencies are \u201cclosely monitoring\u201d reports that the son of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is being eyed as a potential successor, Leavitt said, but \u201cthe truth is, we will have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, at his event, also said it was hard to say who will run Iran next, as \u201ceverybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead.\u201d He declined to take questions from the news media.<\/p>\n
Caine, striking a measured tone at the Pentagon briefing<\/a>, spoke of the \u201csacrifice\u201d of the six U.S. service members who have been killed in the conflict to date and the \u201cclear military objectives\u201d of the operation, which include dismantling \u201cIran\u2019s ability to project power outside of its borders, both today and into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n And he said the U.S. has made \u201csteady progress\u201d toward those goals in recent hours. He said Iran\u2019s \u201cballistic missile shots\u201d were down 86% from the first day of fighting, and down 23% \u201cjust in the last 24 hours.\u201d He said their \u201cone-way attack drone shots\u201d are down 73% from the \u201copening days\u201d of the war.<\/p>\n That has allowed the U.S. to establish \u201clocalized air superiority across the southern flank of the Iranian coast and penetrate their defenses with overwhelming precision and firepower,\u201d Caine said. \u201cWe will now begin to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory and creating additional freedom of maneuver for U.S. forces.\u201d<\/p>\n An Iranian ballistic missile reportedly fell in Dimhiyye al-Kabira village near the Turkish border, in Syria\u2019s northeast, on March 4, 2026. No casualties were reported in the area where the missile landed.<\/p>\n (Sevket Akca \/ Anadolu \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772713580_794_.jpeg\")
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