Israeli officials say US knew of Iran gas field strike - Reuters

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that senior roles in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Basij had become “temp jobs” amid ongoing strikes.

“The last job anyone in the world wants right now -- senior leader for the IRGC or Basij. Temp jobs, all of them,” he said during a briefing.

He also pointed to damage to Iran’s naval forces, saying: “We’ve decided to share the ocean with Iran. We’ve given them the bottom half.”

US officials say more than 120 Iranian vessels have been damaged or sunk as part of the campaign.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that the United States has the ability to “control the fate” of Iran, pointing to strikes on key sites including Kharg Island.

“When you hit Kharg Island… we can hold anything at risk,” Hegseth said during a briefing, adding that “the United States military controls the fate of that country.”

He said Washington had clear objectives and the means to pursue them. “We hold the cards. We have objectives. Those objectives are clear,” he said.

Hegseth also said Iran had “weaponized energy for decades,” accusing Tehran of using its resources for strategic leverage.

He warned Iran against targeting Arab allies, saying it should not “create pain” for regional countries, and added that Tehran had the ability to make different choices going forward.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged the United States and Israel to end the war and called on Iran to stop attacking its neighbours.

“It is high time to end this war that is risking to get completely out of control,” Guterres told reporters in Brussels.

He also called for an end to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, warning it threatens the global economy.

Iran’s attacks on Qatar have damaged facilities accounting for 17% of the country’s liquefied natural gas export capacity, with repairs expected to take three to five years, QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters on Thursday.

“I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar… would be in such an attack,” Kaabi said, adding the strike came “especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan.”

The damage is expected to have a significant impact on global LNG supply.

Russia called on Thursday for a safety zone around Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant after a projectile struck near the site earlier this week.

Alexei Likhachev, head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said a strike on the Russian-built plant could trigger a catastrophe affecting countries across the Middle East. He said the site holds 72 tons of fissile material and 210 tons of spent nuclear fuel.

“If an incident were to occur, it would be at least regional in scale and would affect a large number of countries in the Middle East,” Likhachev said.

Likhachev urged all sides to make the area “an island of safety” and said Rosatom was planning a further evacuation of personnel, leaving only a few dozen employees at the site.

Iran said on Tuesday that a projectile hit the area near the Bushehr plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency later said a structure about 350 meters from the reactor was hit and destroyed, but the reactor itself was not damaged and no staff were hurt.