Iran will completely close strait of Hormuz if Trump acts on threats to target power plants – statement
The Reuters news agency is carrying a statement from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in response to the US president, Donald Trump, giving Iran 48 hours to reopen the strait of Hormuz to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure.
In a new statement, the IRGC said Iran will completely shut the strait if Trump proceeds with his threats to target Iranian energy facilities.
The IRGC were quoted as saying that companies with US shares would be “completely destroyed” if Iranian energy facilities were targeted by Washington, and said energy facilities in countries that host American bases would be “lawful” targets.
“We did not start the war and we will not start it now, but if the enemy harms our power plants, we will do everything to defend the country and the interests of our people,” the statement reads.
Iran has already effectively closed the vital waterway, but a relatively small number of vessels from friendly countries have been able to transit it.
The effective closure of the strait, which carries one-fifth of global seaborne crude oil, one-fifth of LNG shipments and one-third of the most widely used fertiliser, has led to a spike in global energy prices, including in the US where consumers are being hit hard.
Key events
Sometimes you have to ‘escalate to de-escalate’, US treasury secretary says
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, gave an interview to NBC News earlier today. He was asked if Donald Trump was “winding” down the war, which the president said he was considering doing on Friday, or “escalating” it, which is what he seems to be doing in reality (the US is reportedly sending three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional marines to the region and could occupy or blockade Iran’s strategically crucial Kharg Island to pressure Tehran to reopen the strait of Hormuz). Bessent said:
They are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.
Pressed if the US will use troops to secure the strait of Hormuz or for any other reason, Bessent declined to give away the administration’s military plans.
“As President Trump always does, he is leaving all options on the table,” Bessent said. “We had a very successful bombing campaign against the military installations at Kharg Island, the nexus for all the Iranian oil supply. What could happen with Kharg Island, we’ll see.”
Kharg, a five-mile-long coral island in the Persian Gulf about 16 miles from the mainland, is a key processing hub for Iran, through which 90% of the country’s oil exports typically flow. The island was largely left untouched by the US-Israeli attacks during the first two weeks of the war.
But it was reported on 13 March that the US had bombed the island’s military installations, although it left the oil export facilities untouched. Trump warned he would reconsider the decision not to target oil facilities if Iran or other countries “do anything to interfere” with the safe passage of ships through the strait of Hormuz, which is effectively being blocked by Iran as it uses the vital waterway as leverage.
‘Threats and terror’ only strengthen our unity, Iranian president says following Trump threats
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said “threats and terror” are strengthening Iranian unity, after Donald Trump yesterday warned he would “obliterate” Iranian power plants if the strait of Hormuz is not opened within 48 hours. Pezeshkian said:
The illusion of erasing Iran from the map shows desperation against the will of a history-making nation. Threats and terror only strengthen our unity. The Strait of Hormuz is open to all except those who violate our soil. We firmly confront delirious threats on the battlefield.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had a phone call with Donald Trump earlier today. In a social media post, he wrote: “This afternoon, I discussed the situation in Iran, Israel, and Ukraine with US President Donald Trump. We agreed to remain in close contact. Our exchange will be continued soon.”
Merz stuck close to Washington in the early days of the war, but has since shifted his stance, pointing to its destabilising impact on energy costs and “potential to trigger large-scale migration”.
He told German lawmakers last week he agreed Iran must not be allowed to pose a threat to its neighbours but expressed doubts about the rationale behind the US-Israeli war.
“To this day, there is no convincing plan for how this operation could succeed. Washington has not consulted us and did not say European assistance was necessary,” he told lawmakers.
“We would have advised against pursuing this course of action as it has been pursued. Therefore, we have declared that as long as the war continues, we will not participate in ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, for example, by military means.”
Julian Borger
The US-Israeli onslaught against Iran is intended to resolve a 24-year standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme, but it runs the risk of backfiring and driving the regime towards making a secret bomb, proliferation experts have warned.
The regime in Tehran has long insisted that the programme is for civilian purposes and it has no intention of making a nuclear weapon. However, since two undeclared sites, for uranium enrichment and heavy water plutonium production, were discovered in 2002, the programme has been treated with intense suspicion.
A nuclear deal in 2015 imposed severe limits and thorough inspections on Iran but when Donald Trump walked out of the agreement in 2018, triggering its collapse, Iran ramped up its work on enrichment and other aspects of the programme.
Most worryingly for the international community, Iran had by last summer produced a stockpile of just over 440kg of highly enriched uranium (HEU), of 60% purity. In terms of technical difficulty, once at 60%, it is a relatively easy step to reach 90% – weapons-grade uranium that can be used to make a compact warhead.
With further enrichment and conversion of the uranium from gas to metal form, Iran’s 440kg stockpile would be enough to make more than 10 warheads.
The anxiety over this stockpile, accumulated since the torpedoing of the 2015 nuclear deal, was the motive for last June’s US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The US role, Operation Midnight Hammer, was focused on dropping bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Trump claimed the bombardment had “obliterated” the nuclear programme, but it soon became apparent this was not true. The bombs had wreaked extensive damage, but deep underground sites, burrowed beneath mountains in two sites in particular, Isfahan and Natanz, could not be destroyed.
IAEA chief says he hopes to ‘re-establish’ US-Iran nuclear talks
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said he hopes to “re-establish” talks between Iran and the US about Tehran’s nuclear programme despite the escalating nature of the conflict.
“I’ve been having important conversations here at the White House, and also with Iran. There are some contacts, and we hope to be able to reestablish that line,” Grossi told CBS News while cautioning that “nothing can happen while bombs are falling”.
“While there’s a negotiation, there’s always a possibility of an agreement. We cannot deny that,” he said when asked by CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan if there was a possibility of a deal. Grossi said he hasn’t had the “honor” of speaking to Donald Trump directly but ended the interview by saying “in the bleakest hour, we should never lose hope”.
On 28 February, the US and Israel launched their war on Iran – widely seen as illegally – in the midst of negotiations, raising questions about whether Washington was ever serious about striking a deal with Tehran over its nuclear programme. The next round of talks was due to take place in Vienna on 2 March, but never happened.
Photograph: Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/EPA
Summary of the day so far…
It has just gone past 18:10pm in Tehran, and 16:40pm in Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here is a quick recap of events:
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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it would “completely close” the strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest oil shipping channels, if the US targets Iranian energy infrastructure.
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Iran warned earlier today that critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the Middle East could be “irreversibly destroyed” if Iranian power plants are attacked.
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The warnings were issued after the US president, Donald Trump, said the US would “obliterate” Iranian power plants if the strait of Hormuz is not open before a 48-hour deadline, marking another dangerous escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran that has spiralled across the region.
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An Iranian official reportedly said that, with the right security and safety arrangements, the strait of Hormuz is open to all vessels except the ships of “enemy” countries, in an apparent reference to the US, Israel and its allies.
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Iran has permitted some friendly countries, including China, India, Pakistan, to secure safe passage of their ships through the waterway, but has effectively closed it down for others by attacking ships and reportedly laying mines.
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Israel launched airstrikes on the Iranian capital of Tehran overnight and Iran has retaliated with missile attacks.
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Iranian missile strikes have injured about 200 people in southern Israel, after air defence systems failed to intercept projectiles that hit two cities close to a nuclear facility.
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Iranian attacks on Gulf nations continued on Sunday morning.
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The Israeli military has been told to accelerate the demolition of Lebanese homes in frontline villages close to the border and to destroy bridges over the Litani River.
Iran will completely close strait of Hormuz if Trump acts on threats to target power plants – statement
The Reuters news agency is carrying a statement from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in response to the US president, Donald Trump, giving Iran 48 hours to reopen the strait of Hormuz to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure.
In a new statement, the IRGC said Iran will completely shut the strait if Trump proceeds with his threats to target Iranian energy facilities.
The IRGC were quoted as saying that companies with US shares would be “completely destroyed” if Iranian energy facilities were targeted by Washington, and said energy facilities in countries that host American bases would be “lawful” targets.
“We did not start the war and we will not start it now, but if the enemy harms our power plants, we will do everything to defend the country and the interests of our people,” the statement reads.
Iran has already effectively closed the vital waterway, but a relatively small number of vessels from friendly countries have been able to transit it.
The effective closure of the strait, which carries one-fifth of global seaborne crude oil, one-fifth of LNG shipments and one-third of the most widely used fertiliser, has led to a spike in global energy prices, including in the US where consumers are being hit hard.
Hezbollah has reported missile attacks on Israeli positions near border.
In separate statements, the group said it targeted gatherings of Israeli troops at the Marj site opposite the town of Markaba, as well as in Jal al-Hammar, south of Odaisseh. It also said it carried out a third missile barrage targeting Israeli soldiers in the Taybeh project area.
The claims have not yet been independently verified.
Kuwait has filed a complaint before the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regarding dangerous airspace disruptions caused by Iranian attacks, the country’s Civil Aviation says.
It said:
Iran’s attacks are a blatant violation of international conventions, as they exposed passenger safety to serious risks.
Extensive damage to critical infrastructure in Iran, officials say
Iran’s critical water and energy infrastructure have suffered extensive damage due to US and Israeli strikes on tens of thousands of civilian sites, officials said on Sunday.
ISNA news agency reported that energy minister Abbas Aliabadi said:
The country’s vital water and electricity infrastructure has suffered heavy damage following terrorist and cyber attacks by the United States and the Zionist regime.
The attacks targeted dozens of water transmission and treatment facilities and destroyed parts of critical water supply networks.
Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Kolivand said the total number of damaged civilian sites “has reached 81,365 based on the latest field assessments”. He said the figure includes residential and commercial units, schools, medical centres and vehicles.
He added:
Behind every damaged unit stands a family, a life, a memory, a livelihood, and a future that has collapsed beneath the rubble of war and violence.
Journalists in Tehran have reported damage to multiple residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.
On Sunday, ISNA news agency reported that strikes had damaged a hospital in the southern city of Ahvaz, in Khuzestan province.
Other media, including Fars news agency, showed images of rescuers pulling bodies from the rubble of destroyed buildings in the northern city of Tabriz.
It was not immediately clear when those strikes took place.
Israel’s military reports wave of Iranian missiles
Israel’s military says it has detected a wave of Iranian missiles heading towards the country, a Telegram update from the Israel Defense Force says.
It said that people in affected areas would receive mobile alerts and urged them to follow the standard procedure of taking shelter.
The Israeli military says it is working to intercept the threat, and that a precautionary alert has been sent to mobile phones in the relevant areas.
The Iranian state broadcaster, IRIB, also reported that a new wave of missile attacks has begun.
Separately, the UAE’s defence ministry says it has intercepted four ballistic missiles and 25 drones launched from Iran on Sunday.
In total, the UAE’s air defences have now intercepted 345 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles, and 1,773 drone since “the start of Iran’s blatant aggression”, it said in a post on X.
Israeli media are reporting multiple “impacts” in central Israel after the latest Iranian missile barrage.
Israel’s Kann broadcaster shared a photo of what appeared to be a crater near a parking lot, without noting the exact location.
The Times of Israel cited Israel’s emergency medical service as saying it has not received reports of injuries.
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan discussed steps to end the war between Iran, the United States and Israel with counterparts from Iran and Egypt, as well as US officials and the European Union, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday.
The source said Fidan had held separate calls with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and US officials, without elaborating further.
Lebanon reports deadly air attacks
The Israel Defense Forces says it has launched fresh strikes on southern Lebanon. In a statement shared on Telegram, it said ground and air forces were involved in the attacks.
Lebanon’s national news agency, citing the health ministry, is reporting that Israeli has waged deadly air attacks in the southern Lebanese towns of al-Sultaniyah and as-Sawana.
The attack on Al-Sultaniyah killed three people and wounded three others, while the attack on as-Sawana killed one person and injured four, according to the report.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has told forces to destroy bridges over the Litani River – which Israel says is used by Hezbollah – saying he wants troops to escalate the destruction of homes in targeted villages.
Airstrikes destroyed two bridges over the river linking southern Lebanon with the rest of the country earlier this week, the IDF said.
Lebanon’s national news agency has reported that an Israeli attack has targeted southern Lebanon’s Qasmiyeh Bridge. Footage shared by Israel’s Kann broadcaster appears to show a series of explosion simultaneously on and near the bridge, with a cloud of smoke rising up.
Qasmiyeh Bridge is a key route along the coastal highway, and its destruction would effectively cut off parts of southern Lebanon from the rest of the country.
An AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from the site north of the city of Tyre after the bombardment of the Qasmiyeh bridge, located on a main highway linking villages in the Tyre district with others further north.
Al Jazeera Arabic reported that there has been Israeli artillery shelling and airstrikes in several towns in southern Lebanon. Shelling was reported in Arnoun, Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Yahmar al-Shaqif. An airstrike was also reported on the outskirts of Yahmar al-Shaqif.
Iranian ballistic missile barrages wounded more than 100 people in southern Israel on Saturday – here drone footage shows widespread damage to two Israeli cities.
In a visit to Arad in southern Israel, where more than 80 people were injured by Iranian missile strikes on Saturday, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “miracle” no one was killed.
Speaking on Sunday, he urged the Israeli public not to be “complacent”, saying they need to go into shelters during missile alerts.
He said:
There was a full 10 minutes from the alert until the missile fell.
The missile fell here, between the buildings. And if everyone had gone during those minutes into the protected spaces, into the shelters beneath every building here, no one would have been harmed.
Do not be complacent, do not be indifferent.
When you hear the first alert, go immediately to the protected space.
