The Iranian regime continues to strike back, targeting the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia with a drone attack that cause a "limited fire." It followed a similar attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.
The State Department has ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
But President Donald Trump has announced that the U.S. has "the capability to go far longer" than its projected four-to-five-week time frame for its military operations against Iran.
Speaking at a Medal of Honor ceremony on Monday, Trump said the U.S. was “substantially ahead of our time projections.” The U.S. had originally budgeted four weeks to eliminate Iran’s top military leadership, but that was completed “in about an hour,” Trump said.
The president predicted that the U.S. will “easily prevail” over Iran’s “terrorist regime.”
"We have the strongest and most powerful, by far, military in the world, and we will easily prevail," Trump said. "We're already substantially ahead of our time projections, but whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes."
Retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold commanded the destroyer USS Cole when it was attacked by al Qaida terrorists while in port in Yemen in 2000.
"This is not an operation that's going to end in a few days. This is not a pinpoint strike like Midnight Hammer to take out or degrade their nuclear facilities. This is going to be an ongoing operation to degrade and defeat the Iranian leadership and then take down their government."
So Lippold says the United States will continue to attack targets as long as necessary to defeat them.
“President Trump is trying to create the conditions for the Iranian people to rise up and assume control of their government, their military and their destiny."
