Pentagon prepares options for Iran

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also participate in the briefing.

The official did not disclose which options will be discussed, but said the briefing is expected to focus on actions needed to compel Iran to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Strike plans and Strait blockade scenarios

Axios reported on Thursday that U.S. Central Command has prepared a plan for a “short and intense” wave of strikes on Iran, likely targeting infrastructure, as well as another plan involving the seizure of part of the Strait of Hormuz in order to reopen it for commercial maritime traffic.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said earlier on Thursday that a U.S. blockade of ports in his country is “doomed to fail” and would only worsen instability in the Gulf. He made the statement after a senior White House official mentioned the possibility of extending such a blockade “for several months.”

Iranian warnings and threats

“We will not tolerate a maritime blockade. If it continues, Iran will retaliate,” warned Mohsen Rezaei, a former top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, speaking on state television on Wednesday.

He warned that continued hostilities between Iran and the United States could lead to the sinking of American ships and the death or capture of a large number of enemy troops. A senior Iranian naval official also mentioned that newly developed naval weapons would be deployed “in the very near future.”

Supreme Leader: A new chapter in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz

In addition, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei stated that a “new chapter” is opening in the Strait of Hormuz following what he described as the “humiliating failure” of the United States. His statement, carried by state media, was issued on National Persian Gulf Day.

“Today, two months after the world’s largest campaign and aggression in the region and America’s humiliating failure in its own plan, a new chapter is opening in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.

Khamenei directly blamed U.S. military presence for regional instability, claiming that foreign bases are the main source of insecurity.

“It has been proven that the presence of American foreigners and their entrenchment in Persian Gulf countries is the most important factor of insecurity,” he said, adding that U.S. bases cannot even guarantee their own security.

He also stated that the region can see a future without U.S. influence, saying the Persian Gulf’s future will be “without America, in the service of progress and prosperity of its peoples.”

He further emphasized that Iran will not abandon its military capabilities, stressing that nuclear and missile capacities will be preserved as a “national asset,” comparable to the defense of state borders.