Iran live updates: UAE says it's intercepting Iranian missiles and drones

The Trump administration is in "active conversations" with lawmakers about requesting Congressional authorization for the war in Iran, according to a White House official.

Friday will mark the 60-day statutory deadline to conclude the conflict, according to the War Powers Resolution of 1973.

After the U.S. and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, President Donald Trump on March 2 formally submitted to Congress a war powers notification against the Iranian regime. Congress has not yet voted to authorize the war.

Most Democratic members of Congress and several Republicans have long objected to Trump's military action in Iran, stating the administration has not been forthcoming with lawmakers or the American public about their objectives. These leaders have also tried to curtail the military action by forcing several War Powers Resolution debates and votes.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate committee at a hearing Thursday that the U.S.'s "military objectives have been stunningly effective."

"Take, for example, [Iran's] defense industrial base," Hegseth said. "They are completely incapable, at scale, at any level of reconstituting the capabilities you referred to, which is a devastating result for any country, especially one whose ambitions are as wide as Iran's."

"So we've put the president in a very strong position to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon," Hegseth continued. "That's the takeaway that's been underneath every single aspect of this."

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei released a new statement on Thursday to mark National Persian Gulf Day, in which he said the future of the Persian Gulf will be one "without America," per a reading of the statement by Iranian state media.

Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the start of the war, was elected to replace his slain father -- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- as supreme leader in March.

In his statement, Khamenei said Iran "will guard" its nuclear and missile technologies despite external pressure from the U.S. and Israel. Tehran will also "secure the Persian Gulf region and eliminate the hostile enemy's misuse of this waterway," Khamenei said.

Rear Adm. Shahram Irani, the commander of the Iranian Navy, said in a statement published by Iranian state media on Wednesday that Iran "will take swift and decisive action" in the event of resumed hostilities with the U.S. and Israel.

Tehran, Irani said, has "closed the Strait of Hormuz from the Arabian Sea, and if they come forward, we will take swift and decisive action," as quoted by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting organization.