The Pentagon is reportedly deploying more warships and thousands of marines as the US-Israeli attack on Iran enters its third week

Washington continues to insist that it is "winning" the war on Iran and that its warfighting capabilities have been significantly degraded after Israeli and US forces carried out more than 15,000 strikes on targets across the country.

Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the volume of Iranian missile and kamikaze drone strikes has dropped around 90% compared to the first days of hostilities. Tehran is no longer able to build additional weapons, while its leadership has gone into hiding, he asserted.

"Iran's leadership is in no better shape, desperate and hiding, they've gone underground, cowering. That's what rats do," Hegseth stated.

Meanwhile, top Iranian officials took to the streets in multiple cities to participate in rallies marking International Al-Quds Day, an annual pro-Palestine event established by Tehran in 1979. President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani and other senior officials were seen walking among the crowds. Larijani took the opportunity to ridicule Hegseth, stating that Iran's leaders have always been "and still are among the people," unlike top US politicians who prefer "Epstein's island" instead.

Here are the latest developments as RT continues to bring you up to date:

• The US Treasury temporarily lifted its sanctions on Russian oil shipments in order to reduce theburden on global energy markets. Several countries have already lined up to negotiate deals with Moscow while G7 members slammed the move, insisting on continued pressure on Russia.

• The US and Israel conductedairstrikes on Tehranduring a massive government-organized Quds Day march in support of Palestine.

• US CENTCOM has announced that all six crew members of the US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker have beenconfirmeddead after the aircraft went down in "friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury" over western Iraq.

• US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has lashed out at the media for not being positive enough about the ongoing US-Israeli attack on Iran. Speaking at a press briefing, Hegseth insisted that the US has been "decimating the radical Iranian regime's military in a way the world has never seen before."

Follow our live coverage below for continuous updates. You can also read our previous updateshere.

(RT.com)