Netanyahu says US-Israel war on Iran 'not going to take years'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected the war against Iran was "not going to take years", as the conflict widened with Israel attacking Iran-backed Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Iran hitting Gulf states that host U.S. bases, Reuters reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump initially projected the war to last four ​to five weeks, but since sought to justify a broad, open-ended war on Iran.

"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.

As the war entered its fourth day on Tuesday, explosions shook buildings across Tel Aviv as air defenses intercepted incoming Iranian missiles.

Israel attacked the complex that houses Iran's state broadcaster IRIB in Tehran and targeted Hezbollah militants in towns across Lebanon.

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 Defense Ministry said.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Tuesday that its naval forces had destroyed the main command building and headquarters of a U.S. airbase in Bahrain in what ​it described as the 14th wave of “Operation Promise of the Truth 4”.

The IRGC said in a statement that it had launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on the base ⁠in the Sheikh Isa area early in the morning, with 20 drones and three missiles striking their intended targets.

The U.S. State Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ​on Monday warned that “the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military” in the offensive against Iran.

Asked how long he expected the United States to be engaged in Iran, Rubio told reporters that he did not know, and ​that he did not rule out the possibility that Trump might deploy U.S. troops to fight a ground war in the Middle East.

"We believe the objectives we have set for this mission, the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capibilities and manufacturing can be achieved without ground forces," Rubio said.

"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."

The U.S. and Israeli air war against Iran began with attacks against Tehran on Saturday, which killed ​Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Retaliation from Iran and its proxy Hezbollah has dragged the wider Gulf region into the conflict, killing hundreds of civilians in Iran, Israel and Lebanon.