"Just Getting Started" U.S.-Israeli War with Iran Enters Fifth Day as Death Toll Surpasses 1,000

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran enters its fifth day with multiple locations across Iran being bombarded and Tehran carrying out retaliatory attacks across the region, with the death toll rising and no end to the conflict in sight. More than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children, have been killed in Iran since Saturday, while U.S. joint chiefs chair Gen. Dan Caine said U.S. and Israeli strikes had "effectively neutralized" Iran's naval capacity. The United States sunk the Iranian ship Soleimani, marking the first time a torpedo has been used to sink a ship underwater since World War II.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that "America is winning" at a Pentagon briefing, emphasizing the operation is only four days old and noting that "metrics are shifting, dust is settling and more forces are arriving," adding "we will take all the time we need to make sure that we succeed".

Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has effectively come to a standstill as ship owners worry about security, with about 20% of oil consumed worldwide exported through the waterway.

Senior Iranian officials have been meeting virtually to select a new supreme leader after the initial U.S.-Israel strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while the mourning ceremony for Khamenei, set to begin Wednesday evening, has been postponed.