Iran threatens power plant attacks after Trump ultimatum

Iran will attack Israel's power plants and those supplying US bases across the Gulf region if President Donald Trump carries out his threat to "obliterate" Iran's power network, the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement.

The Revolutionary Guards rejected reports that it had threatened to attack desalination plants, which are crucial for providing drinking water in Gulf countries.

"We are determined to respond to any threat at the same level as it creates in terms of deterrence ...

If you hit electricity, we hit electricity."
Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said earlier that energy infrastructure, information technology infrastructure and water desalination facilities could be targeted by Iran, in a statement reported by ⁠state media.

On Saturday, Mr Trump warned that Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to "fully open" the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours.

Mr Trump set a deadline of around 11.44pm tonight.

Iranian attacks have effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said the resulting energy crisis was worse than the two oil shocks of the 1970s and the gas shortage connected to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine put together.

Iran's Defence Council escalated its threatened retaliation on Monday, saying Tehran would cut all Gulf routes by laying sea mines if Trump followed through, state media reported.

"Any attempt to attack Iran's coasts or islands will cause all access routes in the Gulf ...

to be mined with various types of sea mines, including floating mines that can be released from the coast," its statement read.

"In this case, the entire Gulf will practically be in a situation similar to the Strait of Hormuz for a long time ..."
Iranian media yesterday quoted the country's representative to the International Maritime Organisation as saying the strait remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to "Iran's enemies".

Indian and Pakistani vessels are among those that have reportedly been allowed safe passage.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in the war the US and Israel launched on 28 February, which has upended markets, driven up fuel costs, fuelled global inflation fears and convulsed the postwar Western alliance.

The threat of strikes on Gulf electricity grids raised fears of mass disruption to desalination for drinking water, and further unsettled oil markets LCOc1, with prices opening choppy in Asian trading.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said that attacks on indispensable civilian infrastructure do not meet the strict definition of military objectives, and amount to war crimes.

After more than three weeks of heavy US and Israeli bombardment that officials say has sharply reduced Iran's missile capabilities, Iran has continued to demonstrate its ability to strike back.

Air raid sirens sounded across parts of northern and central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, and the occupied West Bank overnight, warning of incoming missiles from Iran.

The Israeli military said early this morning it had begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian infrastructure in Tehran.

Iranian news agencies said at least one child was killed and several people were injured in the bombing of a residential area in western Khorramabad city.

A residential neighbourhood in the northwestern city of Urmia was damaged by an air strike, Iranian news agencies reported.

Iranian Red Crescent rescuers were shown in a video searching for survivors.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Mr Trump's warning came less than a day after he signalled the United States might be considering winding down the conflict, even as US Marines and heavy landing craft were heading to the region.

While attacks on electricity could hurt Iran, they could be catastrophic for its Gulf neighbours, which consume around five times as much power per capita.

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Electricity makes their gleaming desert cities habitable, in part by powering the desalination plants that produce 100% of the water consumed in Bahrain and Qatar.

Such plants use seawater to meet more than 80% of drinking water needs in the United Arab Emirates, and 50% of the water supply in Saudi Arabia.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf doubled down, writing on X that critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the Middle East could be "irreversibly destroyed" should Iranian power plants be attacked.

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards said it would also mean the shipping lane where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally transits along Iran's southern coast would remain shut.

"The Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed and will not be opened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt," the Guards said in a statement.

The Saudi defence ministry said early Monday two ballsitic missiles had been launched towards Riyadh.

One missile was intercepted while the other fell in an uninhabited area.

Yesterday, Iranian strikes on two southern Israeli towns injured dozens in what an Israeli hospital described as a major casualty event.

The towns were located close to Israel's secretive nuclear reactor and a number of military installations, including Nevatim Air Base, one of the country's largest.

More than 2,000 people have been killed during the war the US and Israel launched on 28 February, which has upended markets, spiked fuel costs, fuelled global inflation fears and convulsed the postwar Western alliance.

The war has been taking place alongside a confrontation on a separate front between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, an ally of Iran.

Israel said its troops had raided a number of the armed group's sites in southern Lebanon.

Israeli military spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin told reporters that Israel expects "weeks more of fighting against Iran and Hezbollah".

Hezbollah said it had attacked several border areas in northern Israel.

Emergency services in Israel said one person was killed in a kibbutz near the border.

Israel later said it was checking whether the death was caused by Israeli fire.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon since Hezbollah entered the regional war on 2 March.