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48 hours: Trump threatens to ‘obliterate’ Iran’s power plants if Strait of Hormuz remains shut

Tehran says it will hit US and Israeli energy sites in response, maintains fire at central and southern Israel, after US president gives two-day deadline to reopen key oil trade artery

US President Donald Trump threatened Saturday to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if the Islamic Republic didn’t open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, drawing an Iranian vow to redouble strikes on US and Israeli energy installations and other infrastructure.

Iran renewed missile fire on central and southern Israel the next morning, hours after attacks apparently targeting an Israeli nuclear research station hit the nearby cities of Dimona and Arad, injuring scores of people.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump demanded that Iran stop blocking the key Persian Gulf strait, putting a chokehold on global energy supplies.

“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” he wrote.

He may have meant the Bushehr nuclear power plant, Iran’s biggest, which was already hit last week, or Damavand, a natural gas plant near Tehran, Iran’s capital.

So far in this war, the US has refrained from targeting Iran’s energy sites amid fears of such a step’s impact on the global economy.

Responding to Trump’s ultimatum, Iran’s military renewed its threats against US-owned energy infrastructure in the region, amid escalating attacks on oil and natural gas sites in recent days.

“If Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is violated by the enemy, all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the [Zionist] regime in the region will be targeted,” said the Iranian military’s operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya in a statement carried by the semi-official Fars news agency.

Shortly after the Iranian military responded to Trump’s threats, the regime’s representative to the International Maritime Organization claimed that the Strait of Hormuz in fact remains open, with only shipping vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies” being barred.

“Diplomacy remains Iran’s priority. However, a complete cessation of aggression as well as mutual trust and confidence are more important,” said Ali Mousavi to the UN maritime agency, calling Israeli and US attacks against Iran the “root of current situation in Strait of Hormuz.”

The Strait of Hormuz is a key artery for the world’s oil supply, and its closure has sent oil and gas prices soaring.

One-fifth of the world’s oil supply normally flows through the narrow waterway, but Iran effectively shut the passage after the US and Israel launched their first wave of strikes on February 28, kicking off the war.

The US and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’s leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs and its support for armed proxies. There have been no signs of an uprising, while internet restrictions limit information from Iran.

The war’s effects have been felt beyond the Middle East, raising food and fuel prices around the world.

Attacks on nuclear sites

Iran continued firing missiles at Israel Sunday morning, launching at least four small volleys that triggered alarms in central and southern Israel as well as Jerusalem.

No injuries were reported in the attacks, though fragments from intercepted missiles were reported impacting in some areas.

The Health Ministry said Sunday that 303 people had required hospitalization over the past 24 hours due to attacks emanating from Iran or its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Most of those injuries were caused when missiles hit the cities of Dimona and Arad Saturday night, as air defenses failed to intercept at least two Iranian ballistic missiles apparently targeting Israel’s main nuclear research center in the Negev desert.

Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba said 175 people were injured in the attacks, 36 of whom remain hospitalized Sunday morning. Eleven people were seriously hurt, including children aged 5 and 12, health officials said.

Iran called the attacks a “response” to an earlier strike on Tehran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site, though Israel denied responsibility for this. The Iranian judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan, said there was no leakage at Natanz.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the strike on the site, which was also hit in the first week of the war and in the 12-day war last June. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said such strikes posed a “real risk of catastrophic disaster throughout the Middle East.”

Strikes in Gulf

An Iranian missile last week caused damage at Israel’s largest refinery in Haifa, in apparent response to an attack on the South Pars gas field Iran shares with Qatar.

Iran’s forces have also been targeting energy sites throughout the region, particularly in Gulf states, which are now starting to ramp up diplomatic pressure on the regime.

The strikes have killed at least a dozen civilians in the Gulf, mostly migrant workers.

Fresh strikes on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were reported as recently as Sunday morning, after the countries’ respective defense ministries announced their forces were responding to incoming Iranian aerial attacks.

A spokesman for the Emirati defense ministry said three drones had been intercepted and destroyed in the country’s eastern region. In Saudi Arabia, one ballistic missile was downed while two others fell in uninhabited areas, according to their defense ministry.

On Saturday night, Saudi Arabia ordered its Iranian military attache and four embassy staff to leave, citing repeated attacks on its territory.

The monarchy was following the example of Qatar, which ordered Iran’s military and security attaches, along with their staff, to leave the country, after Tehran targeted its massive Ras Laffan Industrial City in a strike.

The attack on Ras Laffan, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas facility, accounting for roughly a fifth of global supply, heightened fears over long-lasting damage to the natural gas market.

That same day, an Iranian drone crashed into Saudi Arabia’s Aramco-Exxon Samref refinery in Yanbu, located near a Red Sea oil export terminal that the kingdom has been pushing as an alternative to Hormuz.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.