State Department tells Americans worldwide to 'exercise increased caution'

Answering questions from reporters on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu denied pressuring the U.S. government into war with Iran and spoke out about the cost of the conflict in American lives and the impact on the global economy.

"Prime Minister -- given the escalation of attacks on U.S. allies across the Gulf, given the spiraling energy costs, the high costs in general, the U.S. service personnel killed in this war -- many Americans are asking that question, whether you misled their government into starting this war, and for how long should Americans keep paying the price?" ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge asked Netanyahu.

"I misled no one", Netanyahu replied. "I didn't have to convince President Trump to prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program, putting it underground and being able to launch nuclear tipped missiles at the United States."

Netanyahu added: "He understood that. He explained it to me. I didn't explain it to him, and I think that our partnership is the only way to avoid this catastrophic development."

Netanyahu then paid tribute to the lives of U.S. service personnel lost in the war.

"Freedom is precious," he said, adding that it "has its cost, but if you're not prepared to defend it, if you're not prepared to resist the tyrannies that are trying to arm themselves with the weapons of mass death, you will have no future."

The prime minister then addressed rising oil prices, and claimed the current increase was "a spike."

"It goes up and goes down," he added. "The Americans are working very hard, and we're trying to help them in every way that we can, to open the Straits of Hormuz. And if they succeed, which I think they will, then oil prices will come down."

Regarding the strike on the Iranian gas field on Wednesday, which drew a reaction from Trump, Netanyahu said: "Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh gas compound. Fact No. 2, President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks and we're holding out."

An Airforce F-35 plane that conducted an emergency landing just before midnight Wednesday is believed to have been struck by Iranian fire, according to a source familiar with the incident.

The stealth plane landed after flying a combat mission over Iran, according to Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson.

This is the first time that an American military aircraft involved in the air operations over Iran has been hit by Iranian fire.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

Asked about the Department of Defense’s $200 billion request to the White House on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the money is intended for military feats beyond the war in Iran and argued that the administration is being “very judicious" with the request.

Trump called it a “small price to pay to make sure we stay tippy top.”

The Congressional Research Service calculated the U.S. spent $815 billion in direct costs for the war in Iraq through 2014, after more than a decade of military operations there. This war has lasted less than three weeks.

Earlier this month, Pentagon officials told a group of senators in a closed door briefing that the war in Iran cost at least $11.3 billion dollars in its first six days.

-ABC News' Selina Wang, Anne Flaherty and Isabella Murray

The U.S. State Department has green lit and fast-tracked more than $16 billion dollars’ worth of arms sales to the UAE, Jordan and Kuwait, according to the government.

The UAE has been cleared to purchase 10 Site- Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft Integrated Defeat Systems, which are used to detect, track and neutralize hostile drones; long-range discrimination radar integrated with Terminal High Altitude Area Defense for missile defense; F-16 munitions and upgrades; and 400 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles. The estimated cost for these sales is just under $8.5 billion, according to the department.

Kuwait is seeking to buy Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor Radars for an estimated cost of $8 billion, while Jordan is looking to make a smaller purchase of aircraft and munitions support and related equipment for an estimated cost of $70.5 million, according to the department.

All sales are being fast-tracked due to an emergency declaration made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, waiving congressional review requirements, according to the department.

The UAE is a designated “major defense partner” of the U.S., and at the beginning of this year, it was the 11th largest U.S. defense customer by value. Kuwait, a major non-NATO ally, has also purchased numerous large arms packages from the U.S. in recent years, according to the department.