Hegseth says more US troops are arriving in Middle East as Iran war escalates | Israel-Iran conflict news

The death toll in Iran since Saturday has surpassed 1,000, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth saying the war is ‘just getting started’.

More United States troops are arriving in the Middle East, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, as the country’s war against Iran intensifies amid growing concern over civilian casualties from US-Israeli attacks.

The US-Israeli campaign against Iran is “just getting started,” Hegseth told a news conference at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

“We’re accelerating, not decelerating … more bombers and more fighters are arriving today,” he told reporters, adding that the US would use “almost unlimited” supplies of 226kg (500lb), 453kg (1,000lb) and 900kg (2,000).

The US and Israel, he said, sow “death and destruction from the sky all day long”.

Hegseth’s combative remarks came five days after the US-Israel war against Iran, which has killed at least 1,045 people across the country since Saturday, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Legal experts have criticized the offensive as a violation of the United Nations Charter and international law, while humanitarian groups have raised alarm about the effects of war on civilians in the Middle East.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Wall, reporting from the Iranian capital Tehran, said the US-Israeli attack “bears the brunt”.

“(The) strikes are continuous,” he said Wednesday evening, adding that three-quarters of Tehran’s residents had reportedly left the city.

“Officials here are accusing the Americans and Israelis of chaotic strikes against the country, (and a) lack of precision in this campaign and a lack of clarity of goals.”

Tehran’s response to the attacks drew condemnation as the country fired missiles and drones across the region, killing at least six US service members and 11 in Israel.

Iranian missile strikes have increasingly targeted oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf, raising concerns about disrupting global energy markets.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned that the war was having a “severe” impact on civilians across the Middle East.

“This deadly escalation adds to the suffering of people already injured or impoverished by previous rounds of conflict,” said John Egeland, the humanitarian group’s secretary-general.

“We call on all parties to minimize damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and to allow safe and unimpeded humanitarian access. The people of this region have endured enough.”