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

President Donald Trump has warned that the U.S. will “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, prompting Tehran to say it would respond to any such strike with attacks on U.S. and Israeli energy and...

CAIRO -- President Donald Trump warned that the United States will “obliterate” power plants in Iran if the Islamic Republic doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. 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 — specifically information technology and desalination facilities — 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.