Trump threatens attacks on Iranian power plants over opening Strait of Hormuz

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men watch as Israeli security forces and rescue teams operate at the site hit by an Iranian missile in Arad, southern Israel, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) 2026-03-22T04:53:10Z CAIRO (AP) — President Donald Trump warned the U.S. will “obliterate” power plants in Iran if the Islamic Republic doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, while Iranian missiles struck two communities not far from Israel’s main nuclear research center late Saturday, leaving buildings shattered and dozens injured in the attacks. The developments signaled the war was moving in a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week. Trump, who issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home, said he’s giving Iran 48 hours to open the vital waterway or face a new round of attacks. He said the U.S. would destroy “various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Iran warned early Sunday that any strike on its energy facilities would prompt attacks on U.S. and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets in the region, according to a statement citing an Iranian military spokesperson carried by state media and semiofficial outlets. The Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the globe’s oceans, is a critical pathway for the world’s flow of oil . Attacks on commercial ships and threats of further strikes have stopped nearly all tankers from carrying oil, gas and other goods through the passage, leading to cuts in output from some of the world’s largest oil producers, because their crude has nowhere to go. Iran strikes area near Israeli nuclear site Israel’s military said it was not able to intercept missiles that hit the southern cities of Dimona and Arad, the largest near the center in Israel’s sparsely populated Negev desert. It was the first time Iranian missiles penetrated Israel’s air defense systems in the area around the nuclear site. “If the Israeli regime i

原文链接: AP News