Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday the U.S. can “sustain the fight for as long as it takes” as the war against Iran continues for a sixth day, with a top military official indicating the U.S.’s focus will shift to razing Iran’s missile industry.

Hegseth gave a press briefing in Tampa with Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command leading U.S. forces in the Middle East. Thursday’s briefing came one day after Hegseth said the mission, named Operation Epic Fury, against Iran was “just getting started.” Hegseth also announced Wednesday that an Iranian warship had been sunk by a U.S. torpedo, the first time the U.S. Navy has sunk a warship with a torpedo since World War II. 

Hegseth told reporters Thursday: “Our timeline is ours and ours alone to control.”

He also said the U.S. has “no shortage of munitions.” CBS News reported earlier Thursday that Arab states in the Persian Gulf region are running dangerously low on interceptors to take down Iranian retaliatory attacks. 

Cooper said the next phase of the operation will focus in part on trying to “systemically dismantle Iran’s missile production capability for the future.” He said that mission — which is seeking to “raze or level” Iran’s missile industry— is currently underway but will “take some time.”

“We’re not just hitting what they have. We’re destroying their ability to rebuild,” he said.

He said in the last 72 hours, America’s bomber force has struck nearly 200 targets deep inside of Iran, including around Tehran, and on Thursday, B-2 bombers dropped “dozens of 2,000-pound penetrators” targeting deeply buried ballistic missile launchers. According to Cooper, Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks have decreased significantly as the war has progressed.

U.S. forces have now destroyed 30 Iranian vessels, according to Cooper, including a drone carrier that is roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier. 

Hegseth told reporters the U.S. is also “establishing total dominance over the skies.”

H.R. McMaster, a CBS News contributor who served as national security advisor in President Trump’s first term, said after the press conference that U.S. strikes on air defenses “you can fly all kinds of aircraft with complete impunity.”

Six U.S. Army Reserve members have been killed in the war with Iran. Hegseth had said the deadly incident happened when an incoming munition hit a tactical operations center in Kuwait.

Hegseth said Thursday the U.S. military will “remember and honor” the six people who were killed by “rededicating ourselves even more fervently to this mission.”

Hegseth is participating in the press conference during a visit to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa. This is the first time Cooper is giving a press briefing since the campaign began over the weekend. 

On Monday night, he released a social media video expressing his condolences for the six service members killed over the weekend and gave an operational update on the campaign. 

He said the U.S. had struck nearly 2,000 targets with over 2,000 munitions. He said more than 50,000 troops, 200 fighter aircraft, two carrier strike groups, and bombers from the U.S. are participating, “representing the largest buildup by the U.S. in the Middle East in a generation.”

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Voting was peaceful in Nepal’s first nationwide election Thursday since a violent, youth-led uprising forced the government from power in September.

Turnout was about 60% and only a few minor incidents were reported, according to Nepal’s acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari.

Vote counting would begin immediately after the ballot boxes are collected and transported to counting centers across the Himalayan nation, which could be as early as Thursday night. Results were expected by the weekend. Helicopters will be used to ferry boxes from polling stations in remote mountain villages in the northern region by Friday morning, Bhandari said.

The next administration is expected to inherit daunting challenges. It must deliver on changes demanded by last year’s protests, tackle entrenched corruption and carefully manage ties with its powerful neighbors, India and China.

“I came to vote mainly because of the protest and so many people gave their lives in the hope of a change, in hope of seeing better Nepal,” said Luniva, a first-time voter. “Hopefully, I want to see my country become better by all the sacrifices that have been made.”

Others shared similar hopes that the election could usher in positive change after months of political unrest.

Voters are directly electing 165 members to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Parliament. The remaining 110 seats in the 275-member body will be allocated through a proportional representation system, under which political parties nominate lawmakers based on their share of the vote.

The election is widely seen as a three-way contest, shaped by voter frustration over widespread corruption and demands for greater government accountability.

The National Independent Party, founded in 2022, is considered the front-runner, posing a strong challenge to two long-dominant parties: the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist).

The new party’s prime ministerial candidate is rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, who won the 2022 Kathmandu mayoral race and emerged as a leading figure in the 2025 uprising that ousted former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli.

Shah, 35, has rode a wave of public anger toward traditional political parties. He highlighted health and education for poor Nepalis as a key focus of his campaign.

The protests against corruption and poor governance were triggered by a social media ban before snowballing into a popular revolt against the government. Dozens were killed and hundreds injured when protesters attacked government buildings and police opened fire on them.

While the Congress and the Communists retain loyal voter bases, Shah’s party has drawn larger crowds on the campaign trail, highlighting its growing appeal among younger voters seeking an alternative.

There are about 19 million registered voters among the country’s nearly 30 million people, according to the Election Commission of Nepal.

Millions of Nepalis living overseas are unable to take part in the vote. An estimated 3 million citizens work abroad — largely in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and neighboring India — and cannot cast ballots because the country does not yet have a system allowing voting from abroad.