Hegseth provides more details on Iran strikes

And Ellie, we are learning more about what's happening inside Iran. There are reports that an Israeli F-35 jet shot down an Iranian-manned fighter aircraft. How significant is that? Yeah, Mugo, we've learned from the Israeli Defense Forces, who put out a tweet that says an Iranian F-30-- or an Israeli F-35 shot down an Iranian fighter jet. It's kind of to be expected that an experienced Israeli fighter pilot could shoot down such a jet, which is at least a generation behind the F-35 and is subsonic, instead of supersonic. But it does go to the point you played earlier from Secretary Hegseth, that the US and Israel are working to have air superiority over Iran within the week. And that would allow both the US and Israel to drop munitions while flying over Iran, instead of firing them from outside of the country. Another significant strike we learned about this morning was in the Indian Ocean, where Secretary Hegseth said a US submarine, for the first time since 1945, sunk an enemy ship. That ship, there are reports that there are as many as 87 bodies that have been recovered from that Iranian ship. In total, the US has sunk 20 Iranian Navy ships and effectively, according to Chairman Caine, neutralized the Iranian Navy's presence in the Strait of Hormuz, which is a significant commercial waterway, especially for oil, that the US would like to see not threatened.

OK. Eleanor Watson, thank you so much. Let's turn now to the White House with CBS News correspondent Natalie Brand. Natalie, there's still questions surrounding the justification for this war. What are we hearing from the Trump administration about that? Hi, Mugo. Yeah, we've heard some slightly different and evolving explanations. But over the past 24 hours, it seems like administration officials and Secretary Hegseth today, this morning, really trying to emphasize that the administration feels like Iran was negotiating in bad faith. Hegseth said that they were stalling, scheming, and preparing to strike. That kind of echoes what President Trump said yesterday as well, about 24 hours ago. Hegseth was also asked specifically what evidence did the administration have, particularly since last year's operation in June targeted those key nuclear sites in Iran. And he said that the evidence was that Iran had no intention of actually negotiating a nuclear deal. That truly meant they did not have a pathway to a nuclear bomb. Now, this messaging is a bit different than what we heard from Secretary Rubio earlier in the week, when he said-- told reporters that there is information that Israel was going to strike Iran and that retaliation by Iran could then put US troops and assets in harm's way. Since then, Rubio has tried to clean up some of his comments. He was asked by reporters yesterday to clarify. And essentially, he said that once the decision was made by President Trump that Iran was not going to negotiate, that the threat was untenable, that was the decision to strike. So we're going to have to continue to track this. But we do know from CBS News polling that the majority of Americans are not satisfied. They do not feel like the administration has clearly articulated its goals in this conflict.

Yeah, Natalie, you just talked about that poll that shows that the majority of Americans, they disapprove of this war. How do you think this might influence the Trump administration and the president himself? Well, what's interesting is, if you drill into the numbers, while the majority of Americans disapprove, if you look at the Republican and MAGA percentages, there's actually majority overwhelming support among Republicans. And that's kind of echoing what we are also seeing and hearing on Capitol Hill, where a large majority of Republican lawmakers who have talked about this have said they support the operation, even though Democrats remain staunchly opposed. And if you look at our polling, independents are also disapproving.

OK. Natalie Brand outside the White House for us today, thank you so much.