War in West Asia continues and its ambit got expanded even as the US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, today termed the conflict as a ‘generational turning point’ for which the US has been waiting since 1979 – the Iranian revolution when the Shah of Iran was overthrown. He said the US-Israeli strikes in Iran could spiral into a protracted regional conflict by declaring, “This is not Iraq. This is not endless.”Hegseth, in a conference in Washington DC on Monday, put the onus of the conflict on Iran, saying, “Iran was not negotiating (on reducing nuclear facilities) they were stalling it.”The US is unleashing themost powerful air campaign in history, he said. He added, “We set the terms of this war and we are unapologetic. We are hitting their nuclear facilities. Iran will never have nuclear weapons. The operation has a clear, devastating, decisive mission to destroy the missile threat from Iran, destroy its navy.”Elsewhere, three US F-15 fighter jets have been lost to a friendly fire by Kuwaiti air defence. All the pilots were ejected safely, the US Central Command said while acknowledging the loss of three jets.