The father of US service member killed in Iran war said he did not tell Pete Hegseth to “finish” the job, NBC reports.

Defence secretary Mr Hegseth met privately on Wednesday with the families of six American service members who have died in the Iran war.

About that, he said: “What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength and through unbreakable resolve was the same from family after family. They said, ‘Finish this. Honour their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done.’”

Charles Simmons’s 28-year-old son Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons was among the six crew members killed when their refueling plane crashed last week.

Mr Simmons said: “I can’t speak for the other families. When he (Mr Hesgeth) spoke to me, that was not something we talked about.”

Israel struck the vital gas field in a move that drew condemnation from both Iran and Qatar, a close ally of the US, who share the facility.

In retaliation, Tehran struck multiple energy facilities across the Gulf, including Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, where an estimated 115,000 people work.

Speaking about the attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field, a major escalation of Israel’s war on the country, Benjamin Netanyahu this evening told a press conference: “Israel acted alone against the gas compound.

“President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks and we’re holding out.”

Mr Trump was earlier asked whether he spoke with Mr Netanyahu after Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars gas field.

“I did, I did, I told him: ‘don’t do that’,” the US president said.

“We’re independent, we get along great, it’s coordinated. But on occasion, he’ll do something, and if I don’t like it… so we’re not doing that anymore.”

EU leaders will ask the European Commission to help their countries take temporary nd targeted measures to curb the surge in energy prices triggered by the Iran war, according to draft joint conclusions seen by Reuters.

The draft document also said any measures should maintain long-term investment incentives, support faster deployment of renewables and safeguard fair competition in the EU’s internal market.

Britain is to “step up” defensive support for Gulf states after Iran attacked energy sites across the region in a “serious escalation” of the war that could push up inflation and interest rates.

The price of Brent crude climbed as high as $119 a barrel and European gas prices briefly surged by 35 per cent after Iran pounded Qatar’s Ras Laffan energy hub and other Middle Eastern oil and gas infrastructure with missiles.

Interest rates were held at 3.75 per cent instead of the previously expected cut, as the Bank of England warned that the war could push inflation as high as 3.5 per cent by July on the back of rising energy bills, and that rates could rise – creating misery for homeowners.

A US fighter jet was forced to make an emergency landing in the Middle East after it was reportedly struck by Iranian fire.

“We are aware of reports that a U.S. F-35 aircraft conducted an emergency landing at a regional U.S airbase after flying a combat mission over Iran,” Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, told The Independent.

“The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” Hawkins added. “This incident is under investigation.”

Natural gas prices in Europe surged as much as 35% on Thursday as Iranian and Israeli strikes targeted some of the Middle East’s most important gas infrastructure, doing damage that will likely take years to repair.

The strikes on energy facilities since the onset of the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran have brought to life some of the energy industry’s worst fears – that a conflict in the region will leave long-term damage and shortages in global energy supplies.

“We are now well on the road to the doomsday gas-crisis scenario,” said Saul Kavonic, an energy analyst at MST Financial.

“Even once the war ends, the disruption to LNG (liquefied natural gas) supply could last for months or even years.”

Iran on Thursday struck the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility in Qatar, the world’s largest LNG complex, a day after Israel attacked Iran’s huge South Pars gas facilities.

The hit on Ras Laffan destroyed two LNG trains that could cause a reduction of around 17 per cent of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas exports for between three and five years.

“I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar would be – Qatar and the region – in such an attack, especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan, attacking us in this way,” QatarEnergy chief executive Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters.

He said the state-owned gas company may have to declare force majeure on long-term contracts to Belgium, China, Italy and South Korea.

Gas prices in Europe rose by as much as 35% on Thursday and oil jumped as much as 10%, before paring gains.

Real-world footage of multi-million dollar airstrikes that have killed hundreds of Iranians has been spliced together with clips from video games and pop culture references in montages that appeal to accounts on Elon Musk’s X, all while trolling their antiwar critics.

Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles after 20 days of US-Israeli air attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference this evening.

“We are winning, and Iran is being decimated,” Netanyahu said, adding that he believes Iran’s missile and drone arsenal is being massively degraded and will be destroyed.

“What we’re destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and to make the nuclear weapons that they’re trying to produce,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu did not provide evidence for his claim that Iran no longer had the capacity to enrich uranium.

Despite the nearly three week war, it was still too soon to tell whether Iranians will take to the streets to try to overthrow their government, Netanyahu said.

“It’s up to the Iranian people to show that, to choose the moment and to rise to the moment,” he said.

While the war so far has been conducted through air attacks, Netanyahu said there could be a ground component as well and “there are many possibilities for this ground component.” He did not elaborate.

Netanyahu also denied he dragged the United States into the conflict.

“Does anyone eally think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?” he said.