Hegseth says US not seeking ground occupation in Iran

More than 12 Iranian military and police personnel were killed or wounded in four armed attacks in southeastern Iran over a 24-hour period, the Baluch rights group Haalvsh reported Thursday.

The attacks took place in Nikshahr and Nosratabad in Sistan-Baluchestan province, and Faryab and Jalq, between Wednesday and Thursday, according to the report.

In Nikshahr, Haalvsh said Mohammad Reza Okati was killed and five other personnel were wounded when two vehicles carrying military personnel came under attack. Iran's army separately confirmed Okati's death and said three others were wounded.

Haalvsh said its sources reported at least three personnel killed and two wounded in the Nosratabad attack, while it had identified two of those reported killed. Iranian police separately confirmed the death of one officer.

In Faryab, Major Mehdi Jamshidi was shot dead while traveling in a private vehicle, Haalvsh reported.

The group also reported casualties in an attack on police headquarters in Jalq on Wednesday night but said the final toll had not been independently established.

Haalvsh said a group called the Popular Fighters Front had taken responsibility for the attacks in Nikshahr, Nosratabad and Jalq. It had not taken responsibility for the killing in Faryab.

From national symbols to identification numbers assigned to slain protesters, tattoos have become a powerful form of dissent in Iran. An Iran International investigation reveals how authorities have responded with arrests, torture and violence, targeting even the tattoos on protesters’ bodies.

Read the full report by Iran International's Azadeh Akbari here.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the United States was not seeking nation-building in Iran or a large troop deployment to control its territory, saying Washington’s aim was to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Speaking to Real America’s Voice aboard the USS Lincoln, he said the US was “not trying to put a bunch of boots on the ground and control terrain.”

Hegseth said Iran could take the “easy way or the hard way,” adding: “Iran gets to choose, but ultimately the president will choose.” He warned that US action would be “swift and decisive” if the president chose to act.

The IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency, citing unnamed military sources, claimed that oil tankers struck mines in the southern passage of the Strait of Hormuz, causing several powerful explosions.

Iran has enough weapons production capacity to meet the needs of a “sustained and prolonged war,” Defense Ministry spokesperson Reza Talaei-Nik said Thursday.

“We currently have the production capacity needed for a sustained and prolonged war within our production system,” Talaei-Nik said in an interview with state television.

He said Defense Ministry personnel were working alongside missile launch crews, drone units and Revolutionary Guards and army naval and air forces to use battlefield experience to upgrade weapons and equipment based on emerging threats.

Talaei-Nik said Iran would prioritize meeting its own military requirements but also planned to export surplus defense products, adding that prospects for exports were increasing.

“We first meet our own needs, and in the future we will increase our surplus for exports,” he said.

Saudi Aramco has hired a US engineering firm to upgrade an offshore oil field it shares with Iran, which has fallen far behind several neighbors in developing shared energy reserves.

KBR said on October 6 that it would provide engineering and project execution services for offshore processing facilities, gas compression and power systems at Marjan in the Persian Gulf. The work is intended to maintain production capacity and improve associated-gas processing. The company did not disclose the contract’s value.

The award follows a major Saudi expansion at the reservoir. Aramco said the Marjan project added 300,000 barrels a day of production capacity at the end of 2025. The expansion was designed to bring the field’s capacity to 800,000 barrels a day.

Iran calls its side of the reservoir Forouzan. Iran Open Data estimated Iranian production at about 35,000 barrels a day in a January 21 assessment, attributing the country’s wider difficulties developing shared fields to underinvestment and management constraints.

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US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was not suggesting Iran could attack Los Angeles or San Diego, saying his earlier remarks were intended to compare temporarily higher gasoline prices with the potential consequences of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“The Fake and Artificial News is out there trying to say that I’m inviting the enemy to bomb San Diego and Los Angeles when, in actuality, what I was talking about was that a temporary increase in the price of Gasoline is a small price to pay for Iran not having a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“If you want to see a big price, can you imagine what it would be like if they bombed San Diego and/or Los Angeles?” he added.

“All I was doing was making a comparison between paying a little more, for a short time, for Gasoline, versus the bombing of our Major Cities.”

“Everybody knew that, the Fake News knew it as well, but they continue to go out and say that I am asking the enemy to bomb two Cities that I love,” Trump said.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday that ending the war in the near future would not be possible if the United States continued what he called its unilateral approach, Iranian state media reported.

“Our effort is to end the war and ensure that the rights of the Iranian people are respected within the framework of international law. But if the United States wants to continue pursuing unilateralism, that will not be possible,” Pezeshkian said.

“We are in talks, but every time we negotiate with the United States, they attack again. But we will not withdraw from the negotiating table and dialogue,” he added.

Pezeshkian said Iran and the United States had exchanged proposals through intermediaries and that Tehran had made amendments to the latest US proposals, adding that the sides would seek to finalize them through intermediaries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday that Moscow was ready to take all possible measures to help end the conflict involving Iran, Russian news agencies reported.

“You know our position. On our part, we are ready to do everything we can to help you resolve this situation,” Interfax quoted Putin as saying during the talks.

“We know that Iran is making real efforts to end the conflict, which broke out through no fault of its own, no fault of Iran,” he added

A commercial plane belonging to state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines was heavily damaged by fire while parked at a terminal at Riyadh airport on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing three people briefed on the matter.

The sources said the damage was believed to have been caused either by shrapnel or a direct hit by a projectile. The aircraft was believed to have been empty of passengers, though injuries could not be ruled out.