The joint attack by the United States and Israel against Iran continued and widened on March 2, the third day of the conflict, and U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth has not ruled out “boots on the ground” in Iran.

While hundreds of targets in Iran were hit successfully by U.S. and Israeli forces, three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter planes were shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses in a friendly fire incident late on the night of March 1.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said at a Pentagon briefing on March 2 that he was grateful all six aircrew survived the incident and said he could not comment further because it was under investigation.

It has also emerged that a fourth U.S. soldier has died of his injuries following an incident in which three others were killed.

In total, six U.S. servicemembers have been killed in action since the war began early Feb. 28, the Pentagon said on March 2.

Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing on March 2 that an Iranian missile got through U.S. air defenses and hit a tactical operations center, even though it was fortified.

The conflict, and Iran’s threat to disrupt energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil and gas flows, has led to an increase in oil prices.

The price of West Texas Intermediate, produced in the United States, rose by 8.6 percent to $72.79 a barrel early on March 2, according to data from CME Group.

Rubio told reporters that the Trump administration will unveil a program on March 3 aimed at mitigating the effects on oil prices from the war with Iran.

“Starting tomorrow, you will see us rolling out those phases to try to mitigate against that. Obviously, markets are going to be reacting to news about what’s happening,” Rubio said.

Airlines have grounded flights since Feb. 28, but in a statement, Dubai-based Emirates said it would resume operating “a limited number of flights” on the night of March 2.

In other developments, Israel launched retaliatory strikes against Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, the terrorist group Hezbollah. The Lebanese health ministry said that at least 31 people were killed and 149 others were injured in the attack.

U.S. President Donald Trump has also criticized UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s initial refusal to allow U.S. bombers to use a joint UK–U.S. military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

In an interview with The Telegraph, published on March 2, Trump said Starmer’s initial refusal to allow the United States use of the base during tensions with Iran was unlike anything that had happened between the United States and the UK before, and he said that it “took far too long” for Starmer to reverse course.

While the president emphasized that his administration sees the military campaign as operating ahead of schedule, Trump said during a White House event on March 2 that it could last four to five weeks.

He also told CNN that a “big wave” of U.S. military operations is yet to come in the war with Iran.

“We haven’t even started hitting them hard,” he said. “The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”

‘Synchronized Wave’

On March 2, during a Pentagon briefing, Caine gave more details about Operation Epic Fury, which he said began with a “synchronized wave” of attacks from the U.S. military and its Israeli allies.

He said U.S. Cyber Command and U.S. Space Command had both used measures designed to stun and confuse the enemy and that they now had “local air superiority” in the region.

“Operation Epic Fury stands as a reminder of what the United States military uniquely delivers: the ability to project power on a global scale with speed, surprise, precision, and overwhelming force when and where our nation requires it,” Caine said.

“To those who would test our resolve, or threaten the United States, our allies, or our interests, understand clearly we can reach you, we can sustain the fight, and we can scale the fight, and we will prevail.”

Caine said additional U.S. troops are being sent to the Middle East immediately, including more “tactical aviation.” He declined to offer additional details on their deployment.

U.S. forces were able to hit 1,250 targets in Iran within the first 48 hours of the operation, U.S. Central Command said March 2.

During a Q&A session at the end of the briefing, Hegseth was asked whether there were American “boots on the ground” in Iran, and he said there were not.

But Hegseth said it would be wrong to spell out exactly how far the United States was prepared to go against the regime in Tehran, following the assassination of the 86-year-old Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei, whom Trump has described as an “evil man.”

“Iran has an ability to project power against us and our allies in a way that we can’t tolerate,” Hegseth said at the briefing.

When asked about the Trump administration’s ultimate goal in the war, he said: “President Trump ensures that our enemies understand we'll go as far as we need to go to advance American interests. But we’re not dumb about it.

“You don’t have to roll 200,000 people in there and stay for 20 years. We’ve proven that you can achieve objectives that advance American interests without being foolish about it.”

Hegseth Says Radical Islamists Can’t Have Bomb

Hegseth said Trump had been willing to make a deal with Iran and that “radical Islamists can’t have a nuclear bomb that they wield against the world.”

The friendly fire incident in Kuwait came as Iran continued to send hundreds of drones toward U.S. bases and civilian targets in several allied countries in the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain.

A statement by the U.S. Central Command said that “at 11:03 p.m. ET, March 1, three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagles flying in support of Operation Epic Fury went down over Kuwait due to an apparent friendly fire incident.”

“During active combat—that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones—the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,” the statement reads.

It stated that all six crew members in the three planes managed to eject safely and parachute to the ground, were safely recovered, and are in “stable condition.”

Jackson Richman and Savannah Hulsey Pointer contributed to this report.