Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war against Iran was “not going to take years”, as the conflict widened with Israel again attacking the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and Iran striking Gulf states that host U.S. bases.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who launched strikes on Iran together with Israel on Saturday, initially projected the war to last four to five weeks, but has since sought to justify a broad, open-ended war.
In the meantime, Iran has launched missile and drone strikes against not only Israel and U.S. forces but also a host of countries across the region that are allied to the U.S., paralysing globally vital energy shipments from the Gulf along with hundreds of busy short- and long-haul flight routes.
ISRAEL SPEAKS OF WAR LASTING ‘WEEKS’
Netanyahu rejected the idea of the conflict lasting years, like previous wars in the region.
“I said it could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it’s not going to take years. It’s not an endless war,” Netanyahu said on Fox News’ “Hannity” program on Monday.
Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told an online briefing that the duration of the military campaign could change, depending on developments, adding: “We have prepared a general scope of weeks.”
Asked if Israel could deploy ground forces to Iran, Shoshani said that was unlikely.
Explosions shook buildings across Tel Aviv as air defences intercepted incoming Iranian missiles.
Israel attacked the Tehran complex of Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB in Tehran and Hezbollah militants in towns across Lebanon.
The Israeli military said it had sent more troops into southern Lebanon and positioned them at points near the border as part of “forward defence”. After its November 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, a Shi’ite militia that serves as an Iranian proxy force, Israel kept ground troops in Lebanon at five vantage points.
Early on Tuesday, two drones, apparently from Iran, struck the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, causing minor damage and starting a fire, and at least eight more drones were intercepted before reaching the city, Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry said.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed in Iran, Israel, Lebanon and other nations since the U.S. and Israel launched the war by killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei from the air on Saturday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which reports to the Supreme Leader, said its navy had destroyed the main command building and headquarters of a U.S. air base in Bahrain in what it described as “Operation Promise of the Truth 4”.
It said 20 drones and three missiles had struck their intended targets at the base in the Sheikh Isa area.
The U.S. State Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Monday that “the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military”.
Asked how long he expected the United States to be engaged in Iran, Rubio said: “We believe the objectives we have set for this mission, the destruction of (Iran’s) ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capabilities and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces …
“Right now we are not postured for ground forces. But obviously the president has those options and he is not going to rule out anything.”
