UK to host foreign ministers’ talks on reopening Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s army chief Abdolrahim Hatami ordered operational headquarters to monitor enemy movements with accuracy and prepare to counter any assault, especially a ground attack, state media reported on Thursday.

State media shared footage showing the commander holding a video call with operational headquarters.

“If the enemy launches a ground operation, not a single one of them should come out alive,” Hatami was quoted as saying.

He said commanders should track enemy movements and actions “with the utmost pessimism and accuracy” and execute response plans at the appropriate time.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it struck an Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ ground forces base and a mobile command post used by Iranian commanders in a wave of attacks across Tehran a day earlier.

It said the strikes, carried out on Wednesday, also hit a ballistic missile storage site in Tabriz as part of an effort to degrade the Islamic Republic’s missile capabilities.

The IDF said it had identified in recent days that Iranian commanders were relocating command centers into mobile units after previous strikes had rendered fixed sites inoperable.

It said commanders were inside the mobile command post when it was targeted.

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Iran’s Khuzestan Steel Company said on Thursday that repairs to damaged facilities could take between six months and one year after recent strikes.

Mehran Pakbin, deputy for operations at the company, said all modules and steelmaking furnaces at the complex in Ahvaz had been damaged.

Last week that US and Israeli strikes hit two of the country’s largest steel producers, including Mobarakeh Steel Company and Khuzestan Steel.

Pakbin said restarting the units would take at least six months and up to a year, adding the company aimed to rebuild using domestic expertise.

China’s foreign ministry on Thursday urged parties to de-escalate tensions over Iran, saying military means cannot resolve the crisis.

The ministry called on all sides to stop military operations and avoid further harm to the global economy and energy security, following remarks by US President Donald Trump.

It said the root cause of tensions around the Strait of Hormuz was what it described as an illegal military operation in Iran.

China also said all parties needed to work together to keep the route safe and prevent escalation.

A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said on Thursday the Strait of Hormuz would remain open to global shipping but warned it would be closed to enemies of the Iranian people and their regional bases.

“The Strait of Hormuz remains open to the world; however, it will always be closed to the enemies of the Iranian people and their bases in the region,” Ali Akbar Velayati said.

He added that any war would end with Iran’s “prudence and strength,” and not with what he described as the “delusions and wishful thinking of aggressors.”