Iran–Israel conflict: Hegseth signals open-ended war, says timeline ‘could be four, eight or three weeks’

US vows unlimited timeline in Iran

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth signalled that Washington is prepared for a prolonged conflict with Iran, declaring that the United States “will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed,” as fighting entered its fifth day.

Speaking from the Pentagon briefing room on Wednesday, Hegseth framed the campaign as both open-ended and firmly under American control. He said the United States was prevailing “decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” while making clear that there would be no artificial deadline for operations.

Addressing questions about how long the military push might continue, Hegseth said: “You can say four weeks, but it could be six, it could be eight, it could be three. Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo.” His remarks suggested that the duration of the conflict would depend on battlefield conditions rather than political timetables.

He also confirmed that a U.S. submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship on Tuesday night, describing it as the first such strike on an enemy vessel since the Second World War. Additional American forces, including jet fighters and bombers, are set to arrive in the region in the coming days, reinforcing the message of sustained engagement.

Explosions were reported in Tehran earlier on Wednesday, following earlier strikes on an Iranian nuclear facility and retaliatory attacks launched by Iran across the Gulf. Tehran has vowed to completely destroy the Middle East’s military and economic infrastructure, signalling the conflict could widen further.

The war has reportedly killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and dozens in Lebanon, disrupted global oil and gas supplies, snarled international shipping and left hundreds of thousands of travellers stranded across the region — underscoring the potentially far-reaching consequences of a campaign with no fixed end date.